Almost 90% of health care providers hacked in last two years

Cyber attackers have increasingly turned their attention to health care providers, of which nearly 90-percent were hacked over the course of the last two years. The growing number of cyber attacks against the health care industry is said to cost $6 billion annually, marking a trend where hackers shift focus from financial institutions and retailers to those with medical records. All in all, these attacks are said to have doubled in the United States over the last half decade.

The information comes from Bloomberg, which says that of the nearly 90-percent of US health care providers that were breached over the last two years, half of those hacks (or some variety of data breaches) were of a criminal nature. The average cost of a cyber attack against a hospital over the past half decade is $2.1 million.

Home Depot hacked: 56 million credit cards stolen

Hackers stealing 56 million credit cards from Home Depot, hackers also got their hands on more than 53 million email addresses
but the company said  that the file containing the email addresses did not contain passwords or other sensitive personal information.

Customers were warned to be alert for so-called phishing scams that try to dupe people into revealing personal information or clicking on links that may install malware on their computers. It reiterated common tips to guard against identity theft.

The theft of e-mail addresses in both hacks is likely responsible for an increase in spam over the past few months.