In a recent report from Ponemon Institute, medical identity theft affects 5.8% of Americans and is estimated to have a $41.3 billion impact on the U.S. economy, up from $30.9 billion last year. Unfortunately, this is a problem with legs. According to a recent study by Net Diligence, the average insurance cost per breach incident jumped dramatically, climbing from $2.4 million per occurrence in 2010 to $3.7 million in 2011.

Nearly every respected study on workplace identity theft shows that the majority of incidents can be traced to human, mostly avoidable error. Occasionally electronic security does go awry, but more often internal – not external – factors contribute to identity theft and data breaches. The best approach is to implement a program before an incident occurs, which includes a plan for handling corrective actions.

Remember, in the end it’s the human factor that defines your compliance department. In today’s world of high-speed-everything, it is easy to understand why compliance takes a back seat to more pressing concerns like maintaining profitability. But let’s face it, regulators are not going away and neither are the thieves who are waiting to pounce on your sensitive data.