A breach is any unauthorized access to protected patient information and can result from loss or theft of equipment such as cell phones or computers, improper disposal of charts or files, staff error, or system infiltration by hackers just to name a few.Healthcare is the only industry in which more breaches happen from internal sources rather than external sources. However, increasingly, breaches are a result of outside hackers rather than internal error.Ransomware attacks are becoming common in healthcare and there have already been a number of cases involving Alberta based clinics falling victim to ransomware attacks that rendered patient data inaccessible until a ransom was paid.