What is PHI breach (protected health information breach)?

<p>A PHI breach is unauthorized access, use or disclosure of individually identifiable health information that is held or transmitted by a healthcare organization or its business associates. In the U.S., personal health information (<a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchhealthit/definition/personal-health-information”>PHI</a>) — whether in electronic, paper or oral form — is protected by the <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchhealthit/definition/HITECH-Act”>Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health</a> and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (<a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchhealthit/definition/HIPAA”>HIPAA</a>).</p>
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<section class=”section main-article-chapter” data-menu-title=”Why is the healthcare sector vulnerable to data breaches?”>
<h2 class=”section-title”><i class=”icon” data-icon=”1″></i>Why is the healthcare sector vulnerable to data breaches?</h2>
<p>In recent years, healthcare organizations in general, and PHI in particular, have become popular targets for criminal, financially motivated <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/tip/6-common-types-of-cyber-attacks-and-how-to-prevent-them”>cyberattacks</a>. One reason is because PHI can’t easily be canceled or changed — unlike illegally appropriated personal electronic financial information such as credit cards and bank account numbers. The persistence of PHI is what <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/answer/What-is-red-and-white-hat-hacking”>criminals and others who hack</a> into health data, or physically steal printed information or stored data, are after.</p>
<p>PHI is also valuable because it is contained within a historical electronic record that not only in

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