Health Data Breaches from Hacking, 12 Months (HHS)

## What this measures

Breaches reported to the HHS Office for Civil Rights over the trailing 12 months that the reporting organisation classed as a "Hacking/IT Incident": intrusions, ransomware and other cyber attacks, as opposed to lost or stolen devices and unauthorized access by staff.

## Why it matters

It is the clearest long official series of successful cyber attacks on one U.S. industry.

## How to read it

It was 675 in the 12 months to July 2026, 84% of all breaches, up from 631 a year earlier, 266 in mid-2019 and 69 in mid-2016. Its record is 701 (April 2024).

## What it does not say

The category is self-reported by the breached organisation. It counts breaches, not attacks attempted.

## Source

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, Breach Portal (ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/breach), HIPAA breach reports, Under Investigation and Archive tabs combined, by breach submission date. Palanor reads both CSV exports every day. U.S. government work, public domain.