Why hackers are going after health-care providers

Here's what you need to know about how health-care providers became the latest digital battleground. Why would cybercriminals go after the health-care industry? The health-care sector has a lot of information that could be valuable to criminals and that makes them a juicy target. They often have a bunch of personal information that could be use for traditional financial fraud -- things like your name, social security number, and payment information. But they also have health insurance information, which can be sold for even more on online black markets because it can be used to commit medical fraud -- things like obtaining free medical care or purchasing expensive medical equipment -- that often isn't caught quite as quickly as credit card or bank account fraud.

Just how vulnerable is the health-care sector to cyberattacks? Things aren't looking good. According to cybersecurity firm TrendMicro, health care was the sector that was hit hardest by data breaches from 2010 through 2015. Not all of those breaches involved hacks -- two-thirds were actually due to the loss or theft of things like laptops, smartphones, or thumb drives -- but it still demonstrates a major problem with the way the industry approaches keeping data safe.