Top trends of 2026: Cybersecurity breaches emphasize the importance of secure tech in healthcare
Sep 10th, 2025
As data breaches and cybersecurity attacks become more sophisticated, frequent, and severe, healthcare leaders are reframing the narrative. No longer simply a technology issue, cybersecurity is being pitched as a matter of patient safety, paving the way for new innovations.
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Imagine this: You’re in the emergency room. You’re in pain, but the hospital’s systems are offline. Your doctor can’t access your lab results, your medication history, or even your name.
Behind the scenes, a ransomware attack has locked the clinicians out of the tools they need to make decisions. The digital systems that power modern healthcare, from electronic health records to diagnostic equipment, have gone dark. At best? The consequences are just inconvenient. At worst, they’re dangerous.
This isn’t hypothetical. Hacks, cyberattacks, and data breaches are happening more often, and at a larger scale. In 2024 alone, the protected health information of more than 276 million people was exposed or stolen—more than double the volume from the year before, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) breach portal.
Data breaches and cybersecurity attacks aren’t just a technical issue, but a risk to every facet and function of a healthcare organization—and patients have the most to lose. A breach can expose the private information of patients, cause delays and disruptions to care, and may even result in declining loyalty and satisfaction in a provider.
In response, healthcare leaders are shifting their mindset. Cybersecurity is no longer just about protecting data. It’s about protecting patients. In 2026, we’ll continue to see this trend gain momentum, with leaders expanding IT budgets, investing more into secure technologies, and training their employees to spot and report potential vulnerabilities.
The healthcare industry is facing a data security crisis
According to insights from the HHS breach portal, cybersecurity threats in healthcare aren’t just increasing, they’re accelerating. Attacks are becoming more frequent, more sophisticated, and more costly with every passing year. And the data shows it’s not just a temporary spike.
Fig 1. Volume of data breaches reported by the HHS from 2019 - 2025 YTD. Breaches were reported by healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearing houses, and business associates of those entities. The data includes breaches currently under investigation as well as archived cases.
Data from the HHS reveals a steady rise in reported data breaches over the past six years. In 2019, the healthcare industry experienced 511 breaches. By 2024, that number climbed to 737, an increase of about 44%, or roughly two breaches every day. As of this article’s publication, about 485 data breaches have been reported in 2025, with 418 under investigation and 67 cases archived.
Data breach financial and operational impacts escalate
And it’s not just the number of breaches that’s growing—the financial and operational impacts are escalating, too. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report, the healthcare industry suffers the highest average breach cost of any industry at $10.9 million.
Operational disruptions also amplify monetary damage. Ransomware can paralyze hospital systems, delay treatments, and compromise patient safety. The cost of downtime alone can be staggering, with some reports estimating losses of up to $9,000 per minute for healthcare organizations. Coupled with potential legal settlements stemming from delayed care or harm caused by system outages, these disruptions can significantly inflate the total cost of a breach.
The financial fallout, however, is only part of the story. What often gets lost in headlines about breach costs and ransomware demands is the most serious consequence of all: Disruption to patient care.
Cyberattacks don’t just take systems offline—they fracture the clinical workflows those systems support. When medical records are inaccessible, diagnostic tools are disabled, or communication channels break down, providers are forced to work with incomplete information, delayed timelines, and manual processes.
These breaches introduce risk at every point in the care journey, resulting in a multitude of problems that make it harder for providers to deliver safe, timely, and effective patient care.
How digital disruption hurts patients
In healthcare, access to accurate, timely information can mean the difference between effective treatment and a critical error. When a cyberattack disrupts that access, the effects ripple across every level of care.
Data breaches often lead to the partial or complete shutdown of hospital systems, forcing providers to work without the tools they rely on for diagnostics, medication management, care coordination, and communication. As a result, cyberattacks can translate into potential patient harm in the following ways:
Delayed care and interrupted treatments
When systems go offline, everything slows down. Clinicians are forced to revert to manual processes like paper records, handwritten orders, and phone-based coordination, which takes more time and introduces more room for error. Test results are delayed, surgeries may be rescheduled, and patients can be left waiting for critical care.
And it’s more widespread than you might think. According to a survey by cybersecurity company Proofpoint, 70% of healthcare organizations that experienced at least one cyberattack in the last year reported that the attacks disrupted patient care. Many also reported poorer patient outcomes and increased complications as a result of care delays.
Redundant testing
If providers can’t access previous lab results, imaging, or consult notes, they may be forced to reorder tests, which wastes time, increases costs, and delays decision-making. In urgent situations, these delays can lead to missed windows for treatment.
Increased risk of medical errors
Access to electronic health records is essential for avoiding errors. Without it, clinicians may lack key information such as medication history, allergies, or prior diagnoses. This increases the risk of unnecessarily repeating procedures or tests, administering the wrong medication or dose, or overlooking contraindications.
Compromised patient privacy
Beyond operational disruption, cyberattacks also expose sensitive health information—undermining patient trust and triggering long-term consequences.
Fig 2. Volume of healthcare records affected by data breaches each year. Only data breaches that were reported to the HHS were counted.
As seen in Figure 2, the number of healthcare records impacted by cyberattacks has gradually increased from 2019-2022. Major data breaches rocked the industry in 2023 and 2024, resulting in hundreds of millions of private health records being exposed. While these years may be seen as anomalies, it’s an indication that cyberattacks are becoming more sophisticated and more dangerous.
And when millions of records are compromised, the fallout can lead to serious downstream effects for patients. Stolen health information can be used for identity theft, fraudulent insurance claims, or to illegally obtain prescription drugs. But beyond the financial risks, breaches also violate patient privacy in deeply personal ways. For individuals managing mental health conditions, reproductive health services, HIV treatment, or substance use disorders, the unauthorized release of medical information can lead to stigma, discrimination, and emotional distress. Even patients with relatively routine records may lose confidence in the safety of the healthcare system, making them more likely to delay care, withhold sensitive information from providers, or avoid treatment altogether.
The damage isn’t limited to patients. Healthcare organizations face significant repercussions as well, including HIPAA investigations, regulatory penalties, lawsuits, reputational harm, and loss of patient trust. In many cases, the breach itself may be resolved in weeks, but the effects on provider-patient relationships can linger for years.
Shifting the cybersecurity story to patient safety
As data breaches continue to compromise clinical workflows, expose protected health information (PHI), and put patients at risk, healthcare leaders are rethinking their approach to cybersecurity.
Rather than continue labeling cybersecurity as an IT issue, leaders are treating it as a patient safety issue, and a core component to delivering great patient care.
The shift is already taking shape, and we’ll see it continue to gain momentum throughout 2026.
Cybersecurity leadership is growing
At the governance level, healthcare organizations are building more robust cybersecurity leadership. A recent industry analysis found that 42% of health system CISOs were appointed in just the past three years, with most recruited externally. This reflects a growing recognition that protecting patient care in a digital world requires specialized expertise and executive-level oversight.
Secure technologies are paving the way forward
To defend against increasingly complex threats, healthcare systems are adopting advanced cybersecurity technologies like zero trust architecture, multi-factor authentication (MFA), endpoint detection and response (EDR), and cloud-based security platforms. These tools are designed not just to prevent breaches, but to ensure continuity of care even when threats emerge.
AI used for early threat detection
Artificial intelligence and predictive analytics are also being employed to fight against cyber threats. These tools use historical data and real-time inputs to forecast potential vulnerabilities and cyberattack trends. This capability allows healthcare organizations to stay ahead of evolving threats rather than reacting to them after a breach occurs.
AI is also being used for its ability to automate and execute aspects of incident response. When AI tools identify a security incident, such as a ransomware infection or unauthorized access, they can automatically execute predefined actions. This may include isolating compromised devices, disabling accounts, or alerting IT teams to the threat. By addressing incidents swiftly, healthcare organizations can support continuity of care, protect sensitive data, and minimize financial and reputational damage.
Employees are being trained as a first line of defense
Recognizing that phishing attacks and human error remain top causes of data breaches, organizations are also investing in workforce training and awareness programs.
According to Dialog Health, 75% of employees across the healthcare ecosystem report receiving cybersecurity awareness training, but gaps remain. Only 41% of organizations reported that they conduct phishing simulations to educate staff about cybersecurity risks, and 34% of employees said they were unsure if their workplace even had a cybersecurity policy in place.
To close these gaps, security leaders should review vendors and software to ensure they meet all requirements (such as HIPAA regulations) to effectively evaluate and educate staff and reduce overall risk. While many resources are available across the Internet, HHS offers a number of awareness and phishing training modules that can serve as a foundation.
Regular audits are also an important part of a comprehensive cybersecurity system. As technology and cyber threats evolve, healthcare leaders can conduct regular audits to identify any potential weaknesses and keep security measures up to date and compliant.
Learn more
Cyberattacks are no longer just technical disruptions—they’re clinical ones. When systems go down, care slows, communication breaks, and patient safety is put at risk. That’s why healthcare leaders are reframing cybersecurity as a core component of safe, effective care.
At the same time, the evolving healthcare landscape presents real opportunities. Whether you’re a software provider offering secure data solutions or a growing healthcare organization looking to build out a cybersecurity team, there’s never been a more important time to act.
With the right data, you can identify the facilities most in need of stronger digital defenses—or find the healthcare professionals you need to protect your own systems.
To get hands-on with this data, book a demo with Definitive Healthcare today.
This blog is our fourth in our 2026 healthcare trends series. In case you missed it, check out our previous blog which analyzes the changing reality of the pharmacy benefit manager, and how drugmakers and insurers must rethink their strategies.
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