Tag: healthcare
Recent Healthcare Data Breaches
Healthcare computer systems harbor the most useful three pieces of personal identifying information that can be used for fraud and identity theft – names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. With these three pieces of important and essential personal identifying data, hackers, fraudsters and impersonators can do virtually anything they would like. Increase in… READ MORE
Are Healthcare Systems Being Held Hostage by Ransomware?
Healthcare ransomware is one of the biggest cybersecurity concerns in existence and it may have particularly serious implications for healthcare systems. Ransomware is a form of malicious software code that is somehow installed on a computer or provided access to vulnerable system network where the data on the computer or in the network is either… READ MORE
NH Strengthens Healthcare Cybersecurity in Response to 2015 Hack
In New Hampshire, state officials are diligently working to update and strengthen the state’s computer systems against breaches after there was a cybersecurity breach in 2015 involving the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The DHHS press release regarding the data breach can be found here. According to the Concord Monitor, as… READ MORE
Breach Notification Laws Impose High Penalties
When there is a data security breach, there are state and federal data breach notification laws that places time limits on when those who are affected must be notified. A failure to make a timely notification of the data breach can be quite costly. Several state data breach notification laws and some federal data breach… READ MORE
FDA: Make Medical Device Cybersecurity a Top Priority
At the end of December, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new guidance for medical device cybersecurity. The new guidance encourages medical device developers and producers to make cybersecurity of networked medical devices a top priority throughout the product development lifecycle. It did not take long after the issuance of this new guidance… READ MORE
Top Ten Healthcare Data Breaches of 2016
2016 was unkind when it comes to health care system data breaches. The top ten healthcare data breaches of 2016 affected more than 16 million people. There were more than 300 incidents of hacking and data security breaches throughout the year. The federal government tracks instances of healthcare data breaches and publishes its report for… READ MORE
Medjacking is a Real Threat to Health Care Systems
Medjacking, or medical device hijacking, is a new kind of cybersecurity threat to health care systems. Medjacking involves hacking into medical devices using backdoors to access software on the device. Since many of the vulnerable medical devices, such as life-support equipment and diagnostic equipment, use older or standard operating systems, the biggest challenge for a… READ MORE
Quest Diagnostics Data Breach: Another Healthcare Hack
The Quest Diagnostics data breach is the most recent health care entity to be affected by security hack in 2016. In late November, Quest Diagnostic, a medical laboratory company used by countless health care entities nationwide, announced that it had recently identified itself as a victim of a data breach. According to the company, an unauthorized… READ MORE
Healthcare Security Breach: $650,000 HIPAA Settlement
University of Massachusetts Amherst was recently hit with a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance settlement by federal regulators after suffering an healthcare security breach in 2013, according to DataBreachToday.com. The school had failed to include its Language, Speech, and Hearing Healthcare Services as part of a HIPAA-covered component of its health care… READ MORE