Understanding Healthcare Data Breaches: Crafting Security Profiles Completed Research

Healthcare data breaches are occurring at unprecedented rates, but breach causes are not well delineated. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine elements associated with data breaches and to create a model of healthcare organizations experiencing data breaches. We considered organizational factors, business process exposure factors, and technological security factors on breach versus no breach occurrences. The aim was to model factors that may be predictive of healthcare data breach weaknesses. Using computer security industry frameworks and healthcare standards, we develop a testable healthcare data breach model.