Articles by Christine Garcia

The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued guidance to remind healthcare providers that under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, the media and film crews are not allowed to access healthcare facilities where patients’ protected health […]

A number of healthcare companies were impacted by a strange data breach at STAT Informatics Solutions, LLC based in Waupaca, WI. STAT provides a number of healthcare companies with secure medical records services which include […]

The Department of Health and Human Services is slow in responding to the high priority recommendations of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Of the 54 high priority recommendations specified in a GAO report in March […]

The number of reported healthcare data breaches decreased in March 2020 by 7.69%. The number of breached records also decreased by 45.88%. In March, there were 36 healthcare data breaches involving 500 and up records […]

Parkview Medical Center located in Pueblo, Colorado is recouping from a ransomware attack which began on April 21, 2020. Several IT systems were deactivated because of the attack. The Meditech electronic medical record system of […]

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a well-known organization that is fighting COVID-19. Cybercriminals and hacktivists have escalated attacks on WHO as it addresses the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO receives five times more attacks now as […]

The American Hospital Association (AHA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) have made a joint cybersecurity guidance for work at home doctors during the COVID-19 outbreak so that they would be guided in keeping their […]

A Federal judge gave the final approval of the proposed settlement by Banner Health for a class-action lawsuit filed over its 3.7 million-record data breach last 2016. The proposed settlement having an amount of $8.9 […]

The HHS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommended a rule last Tuesday that make changes to civil monetary penalty guidelines to also cover information blocking. If implemented, the new CMPs for information blocking will be […]

The FBI has given a new alert after a surge in COVID-19 phishing scams directed at healthcare companies. In the advisory, the FBI clarifies that on March 18, 2020 network perimeter cybersecurity programs utilized by […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) gave an advisory to all companies that use Pulse Secure VPN servers regarding the likelihood of not preventing cyberattacks even after patching vulnerabilities. CISA is […]

A phishing attack on Aurora Medical Center-Bay Area in Marinette, WI on January 1, 2020 resulted in the exposure of some protected health information (PHI) of 27,137 patients. A number of Aurora Medical Center employees […]

Beaumont Health, Michigan’s biggest healthcare system, announced the potential compromise of patient data located in email messages and file attachments because unauthorized persons gained access to some employees’ email accounts. Beaumont Health discovered the email […]

On April 15, 2020, Microsoft issued updates to resolve 113 vulnerabilities that affected its operating systems and software products, including 19 critical vulnerabilities. The updates this month consist of fixes for no less than 3 […]

Microsoft introduced a patch to address a critical vulnerability impacting Microsoft Exchange Servers which threat actors could potently exploit to have complete command of a vulnerable system. In spite of the warning of Microsoft that […]

The HHS has released a Notice of Enforcement Discretion that is applicable to healthcare organizations and business associates that get involved in the operations of COVID-19 community-based testing areas. According to the terms of the […]

The McHenry County Health Department in Illinois were not providing 911 dispatchers with the names of COVID-19 patients to safeguard patient privacy, just as what they do with patients that caught other infectious diseases like […]

A ransomware attack on Brandywine Urology Consultants based in Delaware on January 25, 2020 resulted in the encryption of files stored on its servers and computer systems. The scope of the attack was limited and […]

Hawaii Pacific Health learned about the 5-year snooping of an employee of Straub Medical Center (Honolulu) on patient healthcare records. Hawaii Pacific Health discovered on January 17, 2020 the unauthorized patient records access and began […]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation gave a warning after an uprise in Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks that are making the most of the chaos associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The term BEC refers to […]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) presented further guidelines on HIPAA and COVID-19. The new guidance presents cases when covered entities permit disclosures of protected health information (PHI) […]

A new Proofpoint report states that cybercriminals are now mostly only doing campaigns that are related to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. 80% of all threats found by the Proofpoint are related to coronavirus. The latest […]

Although most social engineering and phishing attacks come about through email, social engineering strategies are likewise employed to persuade people to disclose sensitive data through other channels of communication, such as the telephone. There is […]

Improper Disposal Incident Reported by the Georgia Department of Human Services The Georgia Department of Human Services reported that employees in Augusta, GA had improperly disposed of confidential case files stored in boxes. The case […]

LifeSprk, a provider of senior care based in Minnesota, is mailing notification letters to 9,000 of its clients about the potential exposure of their protected health information (PHI) as a consequence of a phishing attack […]

A sophisticated group of hackers targeted the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners attempting to steal login credentials to get access to its network by impersonating WHO’s internal email system. Several WHO staffers received […]

American HomePatient’s proposal to settle for $1 million a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the 2017 data breach victims has gotten initial approval. The data breach which led to the filing of the lawsuit […]

The 2019 Novel Coronavirus was referred to by researchers as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 or SARS-CoV-2. It is the virus behind the Coronavirus Disease 2019 or COVID-19. In November, researchers first discovered the […]

In February,, 39 healthcare data breaches involving at least 500 records were reported representing a 21.9% increase from January. The breached 1,531,855 healthcare records represent a 231% increase from January. February had more breached records […]

After the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights announcement that HIPAA compliance enforcement has been relaxed in relation to the good faith provision of telehealth services all through the COVID-19 national public health emergency, OCR released […]

Maze Ransomware Attack at Texas Network of Walk-in Clinics A Maze ransomware gang attacked AffordaCare Urgent Care Clinic, which is a network of walk-in clinics throughout Texas. A recent DataBreaches.net report stated that the hackers […]

A law company is filing a lawsuit against Medical Records Online (MRO), a healthcare release-of-information solution provider, for charging too much on law companies and insurance companies when furnishing electronic copies of patients’ health records. […]

Cybercriminals are targeting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in an attempt to overload its website with hundreds of thousands of hits. As per the statement of HHS spokesperson, Caitlin B. Oakley, […]

Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita, CA has dismissed a number of its employees because of snooping on the Saugus High School shooter’s health records. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) […]

HIMSS Media on behalf of Mimecast recently published a study which revealed that for the past 12 month period, 90% of healthcare organizations have encountered a minimum of one email-based threat. While 72% have suffered […]

Privacy Breach at Harris Health System Harris Health System based in Houston, TX has informed 2,298 patients about the potential exposure of some of their protected health information (PHI). On December 30, 2019, two envelopes […]

The 2020 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference (HIMSS 20) was cancelled because of the persistent spread of COVID-19. Over 40,000 people and 1,300 exhibitors were supposed to go to the conference that was […]

The Singapore University of Technology and Design researchers identified a group of 12 vulnerabilities referred to as SweynTooth in the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) software development kits that came from around 7 suppliers of software-on-a-chip […]

Walgreens started notifying customers regarding the potential access of some of their protected health information (PHI) by other people because of an error in the Walgreens mobile app particularly its personal secure messaging feature. The […]

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The results revealed that technology control flaws in the NIH electronic medical records […]

Connectria has unveiled the release of a carbon-neutral ‘green cloud’ in its North America and European Union data centers. The brand-new green cloud is being offered to businesses using IBM i and VMware systems. Connectria […]

There are several healthcare organizations that recently reported phishing attacks namely Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance, Jefferson Dental Care Healthcare Management, and Munson Healthcare. Phishing Attack on Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance Tennessee Orthopaedic Alliance (TOA) found out that […]

BST & Co. CPAs LLC based in Albany, NY was attacked by a Maze ransomware gang and impacted the patients of Community Care Physicians P.C., a New York medical group. A Maze ransomware gang is […]

In January, there are more than one healthcare data breaches involving at least 500 records per day reported to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. According to the 2019 Healthcare […]

The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights persistently enforced HIPAA compliance at the same level as the last three years. In 2019, 10 HIPAA enforcement actions resulted in the issuance of financial penalties. There were 2 […]

According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights breach portal statistics, 2019 saw a 196% increase in healthcare data breaches from 2018. There were 510 healthcare data breaches involving 500 […]

A phishing attack on Overlake Medical Center & Clinics based in Bellevue, WA in December 2019 resulted in the potential compromise of some personal and protected health information (PHI) of 109,000 patients. Overlake Medical Center […]

Xhibit Telemetry Receiver Vulnerable to Critical BlueKeep Windows Vulnerability The Xhibit Telemetry Receiver (XTR) with model number 96280, v1.0.2, including all versions of the currently unsupported Xhibit Arkon (99999) were found to have critical BlueKeep […]

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit, which revealed that numerous pharmacies and other healthcare companies are incorrectly using the data of Medicare beneficiaries. OIG performed the […]

A phishing attack on Wise Health System in Decatur, TX that happened on March 14, 2019 resulted in the potential compromise of some protected health information (PHI) of 66,934 patients. Wise Health System reported to […]

Ransomware Attack on Central Kansas Orthopedic Group A ransomware attack on Central Kansas Orthopedic Group (CKOG) based in Great Bend, KS in November 2019 resulted in patient file encryption. CKOG discovered the attack on November […]

Stacey Lavette Hendricks, who is a 49-year-old local of Leesburg, FL, pleaded guilty to wire fraudulence and aggravated identity theft. Hendricks was an employee in a medical clinic who was caught impermissibly accessing the protected […]

The 2019 Internet Crime Report of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) was just presented. It shows that cybercrime losses in 2019 exceeded $3.5 billion. IC3 received about 1,300 per […]

Hospital Sisters Health System just lately found out that an email security breach occurred in August 2019. Unauthorized persons potentially accessed e-mail messages and attachments that contain the protected health information (PHI) of 16,167 patients. […]

Sunshine Behavioral Health Group based in Portland, OR provides business services to healthcare companies. The group reported a breach of its cloud-based system that stored patient medical records because of an accidental misconfiguration. Patient data […]

The new Ponemon Institute research reveals that the occurrence of cybersecurity incidents due to insiders has gone up by 47% in the last two years. The average yearly global cost due to those cybersecurity incidents […]

The Department of Health and Human Services announced the changes to a final rule of the HIPAA National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) D.0 Telecommunication Standard requiring pharmacies to keep tabs on partly filled […]

The association of private orthopedic surgery professionals, Fondren Orthopedic Group based in Houston and the nearby areas, encountered a cyberattack that impacted some components of its IT system. The substitute breach notice published on Fondren […]

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights made an announcement  regarding the reversal of the following legislative modifications made to the HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule of 2013: Changes to the Genetic […]

In December 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights had two more enforcement actions taken against covered entities that were found to have broken the HIPAA Regulations. The first financial […]

In December 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights received 38 reports of healthcare data breaches involving 500 or more records exposed, which is 8.57% more than the reported healthcare […]

The people behind the Maze ransomware are pushing through with their threats on victims to post stolen data during ransomware attacks when the ransom is not paid. In December, Southwire based in Carrollton, GA declined […]

Pulse Secure customers received an advisory from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to implement the patch for vulnerability CVE-2019-11510 of the 2019 Pulse Secure VPN . Cybercriminals continue to attack unpatched Pulse Secure […]

On January 1, 2020, the implementation of the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) began. CCPA gave state residents more privacy protections and new rights relating to their personal data. Healthcare data that is protected by […]

Healthcare provider InterMed based in Portland, ME is notifying 33,000 patients about the potential compromise of some of their protected health information (PHI) as a result of a phishing attack. InterMed detected the attack on […]

Adventist Health Sonora in California suffered unauthorized access by a person to a hospital associate’s email account causing the likely compromise of patient data. Adventist Health Sonora’s information security team discovered the email account compromise […]

To prevent the exploitation of critical vulnerabilities, Microsoft has released patches for all supported Windows versions that need immediate attention. Although no report of vulnerabilities exploitation has been received, the threat is serious and it […]

A recent survey by Buck revealed that a lot of group health plan sponsors do not fully comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Rules. Buck is a company providing integrated HR and […]

Threat actors nowadays commonly use ransomware for file encryption to prevent data access. In addition, they steal information and threaten the victims that their stolen data will be published or sold if they would not […]

A man from Georgia is charged over a complex plan to frame up a friend for violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that did not transpire. Jeffrey Parker, 43 years old, from […]

A phishing attack on Alomere Health in Alexandria, MN resulted in the potential access of the protected health information (PHI) of almost 50,000 patients by unauthorized individuals. After discovering the phishing attack on November 6, […]

The FBI reported a TLP:Amber alarm due to the high incidents of cyberattacks employing the MegaCortex and LockerGaga ransomware variants. The attackers target big companies and businesses and usually use the ransomware several months after […]

A week ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a flash alert cautioning private businesses in the United States regarding the possibility of Maze ransomware attacks. The alert came after several days from the […]

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a former employee of an unnamed hospital in New York City pleaded guilty to employing malicious software to acquire the credentials of co-workers, which he afterward misused […]

In 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued 10 financial penalties and one civil monetary penalty. OCR received a total of $12,274,000 for the settlement of HIPAA violation […]

A lot of cybercriminals continue to send phishing emails randomly expecting to get responses. Nevertheless, it is more profitable to run targeted attacks or spear phishing. Microsoft remarks that spear-phishing attacks doubled this year, from […]

Center for Health Care Services (CHCS) based in San Antonio, TX encountered a cyberattack that resulted in computer systems de-activation during the holiday period. CHCS provides individuals with developmental handicaps, mental health problems, and substance […]

An alert issued by cybersecurity company Emsisoft mentioned the use of a decryptor bug by Ryuk ransomware victims to recover their records. Using this bug in the decryptor application could result in file corruption and […]

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, which is a pediatric specialty hospital, found out that an ex-employee accessed certain patients’ medical records without having an authorized work reason. The employee’s unauthorized action […]

In November 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) received 33 healthcare data breach reports with 500 or more records, which is 36.5% less than the reported breaches in […]

The Northern District of Alabama filed a lawsuit against DCH Health System in the Western Division of U.S. District Court because of a ransomware attack that happened on October 1, 2019. The ransomware attack forced […]

The second enforcement action was issued by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights as per the HIPAA Right of Access Initiative. Korunda Medical in Florida agreed to resolve potential violations […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a draft of the discussion of a new bipartisan data privacy bill. The bill concerns the national standards for privacy and security and plans to put limits on […]

LifeLabs located in Toronto, one of the biggest Canadian medical testing and diagnostics companies, submitted a serious data breach report. Hackers possibly viewed the personal and medical information of around 15 million individuals, mostly residents […]

Tidelands Health located in Georgetown, SC, is working 24 / 7 to reestablish its computer systems after discovering malware on its system on December 12, 2019. The malware attack has compelled the healthcare company to […]

Encryption makes data unavailable to unauthorized people, as long as strong encryption is utilized and the private key to decrypt information isn’t compromised. Not all encryption algorithms give a similar protection level. The effectiveness of […]

Truman Medical Centers located in Kansas City, MO, the biggest inpatient and outpatient services provider in the city, learned that an unencrypted laptop computer that contains 114,466 patients’ protected health information (PHI) was stolen from […]

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, the state’s biggest health insurance provider, is currently working to resolve about 200,000 unaddressed vulnerabilities identified on its servers, some of which are over ten years old. In August […]

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center located in Wyoming lately discovered the compromise of patient data because of a phishing attack in April. On or around April 5, 2019, the medical center received notification concerning a potential […]

Sunrise Community Health based in Evans, CO discovered the compromise of several employees’ email accounts because its employees responded to phishing emails. Unauthorized individuals accessed the email accounts from September 11, 2019 to November 22, […]

In June 2016, Banner Health sustained a data breach which resulted in the theft of the protected health information (PHI) of 2.9 million people. Victims of the breach filed a class-action lawsuit in August 2016. […]

Southeastern Minnesota Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (SEMOMS) made an announcement a ransomware attack that caused the potential exposure of the protected health information (PHI) of about 80,000 patients. The ransomware attack was seen on September […]

Solara Medical Supplies is confronted with a lawsuit involving a data breach in June 2019 resulting in the exposure of the protected health information (PHI) of over 114,000 customers and the potential data theft by […]

Kalispell Regional Healthcare based in Montana is getting sued as a consequence of a phishing attack that made it possible for hackers to get access to the email accounts of employees that have the protected […]

Nebraska Medicine learned that a member of its staff got access to patients’ healthcare data without any authorized work reason for a time period of about three months. Nebraska Medicine uncovered the privacy violation while […]

Loudoun Medical Group, also called the Comprehensive Sleep Care Center (CSCC), had a phishing attack some time on June 19, 2019. The IT department was cautioned regarding a potential email security breach upon detecting suspicious […]

Amazon’s Alexa now features a new healthcare skill that patients may employ in handling their prescription drugs and purchasing prescription refills. At the beginning of this year, Amazon stated that it has made a HIPAA-eligible […]

The 8th HIPAA financial penalty of 2019 has been announced by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Sentara Hospitals has made an agreement to pay a penalty of $2.175 […]

The Anti-Phishing Working Group’s Phishing Activity Trends Report for Q3, 2019 stated that the rate of phishing attacks now is at a rate that is the highest since 2016. In Q3 of 2019, there were […]

Google has affirmed the news of its partnership with one of the biggest U.S. healthcare systems so that it could access a substantial volume of patient information. Google partnered with Ascension, which is the world’s […]

Brooklyn Hospital Center in New York announced a security breach that happened in late July 2019 involving malware installation on some hospital servers. The quick discovery of the incident minimized the problems caused since safety […]

A ransomware attack on Virtual Care Provider Inc. (VCP), a provider of data storage, internet, and email services, cybersecurity, and other IT services in Wisconsin, resulted in the encryption of the healthcare records and other […]

A phishing attack on Choice Cancer Care Treatment Center (CCCT) in May 2019 resulted in the potential access of the protected health information (PHI) of some patients by unauthorized people in May 2019. CCCT is […]

Aegis Medical Group, a physician group in Florida, began informing 9,800 patients regarding the potential access of their protected health information (PHI) by a former employee. Allegedly, that person tried to sell patient data to […]

A phishing attack on Solara Medical Supplies, LLC in Chula Vista, CA, resulted in the potential compromise of the protected health information (PHI) of a lot of its customers. Solara Medical discovered suspicious activity in […]

A misconfigured AWS S3 storage bucket owned by Sunshine Behavioral Health, LLC, a network of drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation centers based in San Juan Capistrano, CA resulted in the compromise of sensitive patient data. […]

Main Street Clinical Associates, PA. located in Durham, NC has notified a number of its patients regarding the potential compromise of some of their protected health information (PHI) because of the stolen devices from its […]

A phishing attack at Salem Health Hospitals & Clinics, Oregon on July 31, 2019 resulted in the access of some employees’ email accounts by an unauthorized person. The healthcare provider detected the breach within a […]

A new survey was done to know the expense connected with healthcare data breaches, the magnitude of the healthcare community attacked, and what proportion of the attacks become successful. The Black Book Market Research performed […]

Utah Valley Eye Center based in Provo, UT sent breach notification letters to patients concerning an unauthorized person that potentially accessed some of their personal information as a result of its scheduling reminder web portal’s […]

A wrong configuration of the billing program of Texas Health Resources caused the impermissible disclosure of the health information of 82,577 of its patients. Texas Health Resources is one of the United States’ major faith-based […]

Microsoft reported in May 2019 something about the BlueKeep exploit. It is a CVE-2019-0708 vulnerability, which is a serious remote code execution flaw identified in Windows Remote Desktop Services. The cybersecurity community anticipated the creation […]

The HHS updated its HIPAA Security Risk Assessment Tool with a number of new features requested by users to enhance usability. The HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) in cooperation […]

Because a data breach on the Palmetto Health site occurred, Prisma Health Midlands is informing about 19,000 patients and 3,000 employees. Prisma Health – earlier known as Palmetto Health – found out on August 29, […]

TitanHQ, a provider of cloud security, has seen an exceptional increase in quarter three of 2019, having the most bustling quarter for its MSP enterprise all through its 20+ year history. The company grew into […]

Smith’s Food & Drug based in Salt Lake City, OH has reported that around 58,000 patients’ pharmacy records were improperly disposed of. The grocery and drug store chain discovered the improper disposal on August 29, […]

California Governor Gavin Newsom affixed his signature on bill AB-1130 which revises the data breach notification law in California. The latest bill stretches the meaning of personal information impacting the need to issue notifications to […]

The vulnerability CVE-2019-13546 was discovered in the Philips IntelliSpace Perinatal obstetrics data management system. This vulnerability is remotely exploitable by a user of an authorized remote desktop session host application or a person that could […]

Geisinger Health Plan based in Danville, PA found out that some of its members’ protected health information (PHI) was exposed because Magellan NIA, one of its business associates, had a suspected phishing attack. Magellan NIA […]

Kalispell Regional Healthcare in Montana had a security breach last summer and is informing around 129,000 patients about the potential compromise of their protected health information (PHI). Kalispell Regional Healthcare manages Kalispell Regional Medical Center, […]

Monterey Health Center in Milwaukie, OR encountered a ransomware attack, which began on August 12, 2019. Because of the incident, its electronic health records system was encrypted and made patient information inaccessible. With the assistance […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) and Microsoft launched a new project to create guidance on the development and implementation of an effective patch management strategy. After […]

A new report from Emsisoft, a New Zealand-based cybersecurity company, exposed the magnitude of ransomware usage in cyberattacks in America. 2019’s first 9 months had 621 reports of ransomware attacks on government agencies, healthcare companies, […]

The 2019 Market Guide for Cloud Service Providers to Healthcare Delivery Organizations (HDOs) has been published by Gartner. It includes a study of the healthcare cloud market and points out how the cloud may be […]

A new Proofpoint report provides ideas on the cyber threats that healthcare companies run into and the most prevalent attacks that bring about healthcare data breaches. Proofpoint’s 2019 Healthcare Threat Report reveals the evolving threat […]

Hunt Regional Healthcare based in Texas learned that a May 2018 cyberattack was more extensive than earlier thought. The FBI informed Hunt Regional on May 14, 2019 that an advanced, targeted cyberattack hit its systems […]

The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business introduced a special healthcare-specific professional cybersecurity certificate program. The professional leadership and educational program is the first healthcare targeted cybersecurity certification program to be made […]

Three of DCH Health System’s hospitals in Alabama were forced not to accept new patients other than those in a critical state due to a ransomware attack. The staff in DCH Regional Medical Center in […]

CHI Health in Omaha, NE, a 14-hospital health system, had a ransomware attack, which led to the potential exposure of the protected health information (PHI) of close to 48,000 patients. CHI Health became aware of […]

On behalf of Kaspersky Lab, a B2B International survey recently performed confirmed there is an increase in the average expense of a data breach at the enterprise-level from $1.23 million (2018) to $1.41 million. The […]

Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) is informing some patients about the exposure of their protected health information (PHI) because of a phishing-related email security breach at its Southeastern Regional Medical Center, which happened on […]

There has been an increase in the number of business email compromise (BEC) attacks in the United States. According to Symantec, an average of 6,029 businesses received BEC emails in the last 12 months and […]

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights consented to a negotiation with Elite Dental Associates concerning its HIPAA violation case relating to the impermissible disclosure of protected health information (PHI) of […]

Armis Security researchers found 11 vulnerabilities in the Interpeak IPnet TCP/IP Stack, which is a third-party software part utilized in some medical devices and hospital networks. The DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) received […]

North Florida OB-GYN located in Jacksonville, FL found out that hackers acquired access to selected parts of its computer system holding personal and health information of patients and infected the system with a virus that […]

A damaging ransomware attack on Wood Ranch Medical in Simi Valley, CA caused its irreversible shutting down on December 17, 2019. The attack took place on August 10, 2019 and the ransomware corrupted the servers. […]

Sen. Rand Paul, M.D., (R-Kentucky) has announced a new bill that tries to once and for all take away the HIPAA national patient identifier provision considering the privacy problems in using such a system. At […]

Dr. Ulrich Klopfer operated three abortion clinics in Indiana, but the clinics were closed down upon the suspension of his license in 2015. After his passing away on September 3, 2019, his family members discovered […]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is banned from expending any of its funds for the creation and launch of a national patient identifier, although there was anticipation that the prohibition will eventually […]

Starting October 1, 2019, medical insurance companies and related services must inform the Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) in case a breach of insureds’ personal data occurs. The change in legislation is applicable to health plans, […]

Philips IntelliVue WLAN firmware had been found to have two vulnerabilities that affected some IntelliVue MP monitors. The vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers to install malicious software that could have an effect on data […]

A ransomware attack on Campbell County Health located in Gillette, WY resulted in the disablement of hospital systems, which prevented access to patient information. The attack began in early in the morning of September 20, […]

Based on a recent investigation by ProPublica, Bayerischer Rundfunk (a German public broadcaster), and Greenbone Networks (vulnerability and analysis firm, 24.3 million medical images in medical image storage systems are publicly accessible on the internet […]

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) created a new draft NIST mobile device security guidance to assist companies to minimize the risks presented by corporate-owned personally enabled (COPE) devices. Mobile devices permit personnel to […]

A phishing attack on East Central Indiana School Trust (ECIST) resulted in the exposure of some protected health information (PHI) of over 3,200 people. On May 19, 2019, an ECIST employee was misled into sharing […]

According to the Global Connected Industries Cybersecurity Survey conducted by Irdeto, a Swedish software company, 82% of healthcare companies utilizing Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices were attacked via one of those devices in the past year. Irdeto […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) submitted its annual audit report to Congress concerning the cybersecurity status of federal agencies, as ordered by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA). OMB examined […]

A new research study published in JAMA Network Open revealed that many patients are okay with sharing their EHR data and biospecimens for research purposes; however, the majority of patients would like to limit the […]

When healthcare providers encounter a data breach, breach victims will naturally be annoyed and upset. People provide their data to healthcare organizations with the understanding that they implement safeguards to protect that information. Whenever patients […]

A phishing attack on Artesia General Hospital in Artesia, NM resulted to the compromise of 13,905 patients’ protected health information (PHI). The hospital detected the breach on June 18, 2019 when it was discovered that […]

The agency assigned to implement HIPAA compliance is the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights. Only a handful of HIPAA violations were issued financial penalties prior to 2016. Then, the number […]

The last phishing attack on Bonita Springs, an NCH Healthcare System based in Florida, highlighted the great importance of providing healthcare employees with security awareness training. Bonita Springs detected the attack on June 14, 2019 […]

On June 26, a University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) patient filed legal action against UCMC and Google with regards to an alleged privacy violation involving the disclosure of protected health information (PHI) without de-identifying […]

A phishing attack on NCH Healthcare System in Naples, FL resulted in the exposure of patient information. NCH Healthcare knew about the suspicious activities on its payroll system on June 14, 2019. A third-party computer […]

The Swedish Data Protection Authority (DPA) issued its first financial penalty for a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) violation. A high school in Skellefteå was issued a 200,000 SEK fine (€19,000/$21,000) for conducting a pilot […]

An unsecured database online contains the personal data of individuals who exhibited an interest in Vascepa®, a cholesterol drug that Amarin Pharma manufactures. The database contained information including complete names, telephone numbers, email addresses, home […]

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) discovered recently the unauthorized access of the computer applications utilized by its Department of Neurology researchers. The person behind the breach could potentially access the protected health information (PHI) of around […]

Nuvance Health informed some Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN) patients concerning their protected health information (PHI) exp. CHN sent to the Connecticut State Department of Public Health a package of medical documents on June 11, […]

The healthcare industry is being attacked with more data breaches. Why do hackers want to target the healthcare industry? FireEye came up with a new report to provide answers to this question. FireEye researchers analyzed […]

The Western District of Wisconsin US District Court has partly dismissed the class-action data breach lawsuit that UnityPoint Health is facing. In February 2018, employees of UnityPoint Health received phishing emails and responded to them. […]

A database which comprises of the personal information of men and women who expressed interest in Vascepa®, a cholesterol drug manufactured by Amarin Pharma, was exposed online. The database, which a third party vendor maintained, […]

Florida’s Integrated Regional Laboratories (IRL) is informing about 30,000 patients regarding the potential compromise of their protected health information (PHI) as a result of the American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA) data breach, which was discovered […]

medRxiv, a health manuscript archiving firm, recently conducted a study which revealed the prevalent noncompliance with the HIPAA right of access. The researchers of this study mailed 51 healthcare providers requesting for medical record and […]

Eye Care Associates, a fully integrated eye care provider in the northeast Ohio region, had a ransomware attack in late July which led to the inaccessibility of its computer systems. Two weeks after the attack, […]

The ransomware attack on Grays Harbor Community Hospital in Aberdeen, WA continues to cause problems after its attack two months ago. The attackers asked for $1 million ransom payment in exchange for the encryption unlock […]

Because of a phishing attack on April 2019, the University of Missouri Health Care (MU Health) is charged with a lawsuit. MU Health found out on May 1, 2019 the one week unauthorized access of […]

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions proposed a preliminary settlement to resolve the violations of HIPAA, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the electronic health record (EHR) incentive program of the HITECH Act by the electronic health record (EHR) firm […]

Bayamón Medical Center and Puerto Rico Women and Children’s Hospital had a ransomware attack which affected over 500,000 patients living in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. A press release on July 19, 2019 explained the discovery by […]

Bayamón Medical Center and Puerto Rico Women and Children’s Hospital were attacked by ransomware, which affected more than half a million patients from Bayamón, Puerto Rico. A press release on July 19, 2019 mentioned the […]

Businesses governed by HIPAA regulations need to be mindful whenever using emergency text notification systems and ensure not to disclose Protected Health Information (PHI) without authorization. It can be quite difficult to adhere to HIPAA […]

The Department of Veteran Affairs Office of Inspector General (VA OIG) inspected a California VA medical center recently and found security vulnerabilities linked to medical device workarounds as well as non-compliance with Veterans Health Administration […]

The healthcare industry has had a particularly bad first six months. The many reports of data breaches and the volume of healthcare records exposed every day are very concerning. The trend this 2019 is over […]

A HIPAA business associate from Madison Heights, MI, Northwood Inc., reported hacking of one of its employee’s email account and potential viewing or acquisition of sensitive patient information. Northwood Inc knew about the breach on […]

The first GDPR data breach fine has been issued by Authoriteit Persoonsgegevens, the GDPR data protection authority in the Netherlands, to Haga Hospital in the Hague. The hospital is to pay a GDPR fine of […]

Patients of Wise Health System in Decatur, TX received notification regarding the potential exposure of their protected health information (PHI) because of a phishing attack. About 35,899 patients were affected by the breach. The phishing […]

The 2019 Cost of a Data Breach Report of Ponemon Institute/IBM Security has been published. It is a detailed study of the reported data breaches in 2018. It revealed the continuous increase of data breach […]

Another healthcare provider confirmed that it was affected by the American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA) security breach. An unauthorized access of AMCA’s systems resulted to a breach of the protected health information (PHI) of its […]

Equifax has decided to resolve its federal data breach case by paying at least $575 million. The settlement could possibly go up to $700 million plus the need to make significant improvements to its security […]

Edgepark Medical Supplies (EMS) discovered on May 13, 2019 that an unauthorized person access the account of some of its customers accounts and altered their addresses causing a redirection of their orders to different delivery […]

Idaho is giving patients new rights as hospitals implement the new rules. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) is implementing the rules which began July 1, 2019. IDHW stated that patient advocacy groups […]

Just a few days after expressing the intention to issue a penalty to British Airways the amount of £183 million ($230 M) for its 383-million records breach, the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is […]

Adirondack Health Vermont notified about 25,000 patients regarding the potential exposure of their protected health information (PHI) due to hacking. The potentially compromised information include the patients’ names, birth dates, healthcare insurance member numbers or […]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary has declared a partial waiver of HIPAA sanctions and penalties in Louisiana because of the damage that Tropical Storm Barry likely caused when it hit […]

UK Information Commissioners Office (ICO), which is the GDPR supervisory authority, issued the biggest GDPR penalty to British Airways amounting to £183.39 million or $228 million for failure to employ security controls that led to […]

Premera Blue Cross agreed to pay $10 million to settle a multi-state data breach lawsuit that involved 30 state attorneys general. The alleged violations of state and federal laws resulted to a breach of 10.4 […]

Essentia Health is an integrated health system providing services in the states of Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Idaho. Notifications sent to over 1,000 Essentia Health patients stated that some of their protected health information […]

Nemadji Research Corporation, doing business under the name of California Reimbursement Enterprises, released information regarding the unauthorized person who accessed the email account of an employee. There is potential exposure of the protected health information […]

GE Aestiva and Aespire Anesthesia devices were found to have an improper authentication vulnerability. These devices are typically used in hospitals all over America. The CVE-2019-10966 vulnerability can allow an attacker to remotely change the […]

A recent nCipher Security survey explored the value consumers put on their health information privacy and security. The survey had 1,300 U.S. consumers as participants and looked into their attitudes toward online personal privacy, sharing […]

Hackers exploited a two-year-old vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook targeting U.S. government networks. A warning issued by U.S. Cyber Command talked about the active exploitation of vulnerability CVE-2017-1174 and installation of remote access Trojans and other […]

A medical student is filing a lawsuit against Marshall University and Cabell Huntington Hospital because some of his protected health information (PHI) was impermissibly disclosed to a class of students. The medical student, which the […]

Alerts regarding the cybersecurity vulnerabilities discovered in several Medtronic insulin pumps were released by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The vulnerable insulin pumps connect to […]

According to a recent study, larger healthcare providers are more inclined to have fully developed, sophisticated cybersecurity defenses, whereas smaller healthcare providers struggle to implement cybersecurity best practices. KLAS and CHIME conducted the study and […]

Franciscan Health located in Mishawaka, IN found out that a former staff committed unauthorized access of the protected health information (PHI) of around 2,200 patients. In a routine privacy review, Franciscan Health learned about the […]

A former UChicago Medicine patient filed a lawsuit claiming that his medical information along with those of hundred other patients were shared with Google with no prior authorization. The lawsuit accuses UChicago Medical Center, UChicago […]

Virginia-based Dominion National, which is an insurance company, health plan manager, and administrator of dental and vision benefits, learned that a data breach affected the personal information of individuals connected to the services it provides. […]

Estes Park Health (EPH) located in Colorado was attacked by ransomware, which extensively encrypted files all across its network. EPH discovered the ransomware attack on June 2, 2019 when employees noticed and reported the computers’ […]

A patient care coordinator previously employed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) received a one-year imprisonment term for accessing patient healthcare records and utilizing that data for malicious damages. Sue Kalina, 62, living […]

The Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) gave a warning after a surge in ‘Iranian regime actors’ cyberattacks. Christopher C. Krebs gave the warning as tensions build up […]

Cybercriminals that locate and exploit vulnerabilities to access healthcare networks and patient information are increasing their activities. The last two months were the worst and second worst months in terms of number of healthcare data […]

A ransomware attack on Tenx Systems, a company providing software for assisted living communities, impacted over 60 facilities that utilize the software program. Also known as ResiDex Software, Tenx Systems stated the attack happened on […]

A phishing attack on the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) resulted to the potential compromise of the personal information of 645,000 clients. The phishing attack began on January 9, 2019, which got 9 ODHS […]

A recent ransomware attack on Shingle Springs Health and Wellness Center (SSHWC) located in Placerville, CA resulted to the potential compromise of the protected health information (PHI) of 21,513 patients. SSHWC found out on April […]

Rave Mobile Safety is hosting a webinar on June 18, 2019 that seeks to give better understanding of mental health problems, the difficulties community members encounter in relation to mental health conditions, and how to […]

An extreme ransomware attack on N.E.O Urology based in Boardman, OH impacted all of its IT system. The ransomware brought about extensive file encryption and prevented the healthcare provider from accessing its computers and patient […]

A phishing attack on Union Labor Life Insurance (ULLI), a subsidiary of Ullico Inc., resulted to the exposure of 87,000 plan members’protected health information (PHI). Data exposure happened because an employee responded to a phishing […]

An ex-employee of a healthcare provider based in Germantown, MD is alleged to have accessed the protected health information (PHI) of approximately 16,542 patients. The information was allegedly given to a third party to be […]

Ever since reports regarding the massive data breach at American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA) became known, over 12 lawsuits had been submitted by breach victims. Quest Diagnostics formally reported the breach on June 3, 2019 […]

News reports spoke of the American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA) data breach that brought about the compromise of 11.9 million Quest Diagnostics patient records. Current news cite another healthcre company affected by the AMCA breach. […]

Turlock Irrigation District in California is notifying its employees who are members of their employer-sponsored health plan regarding the exposure of some of their protected health information (PHI) online due to a business associate error. […]

The huge data breaches lately which included the breach at Quest Diagnostics affecting 11.9 million records and the breach at LabCorp affecting 7.7 million records. Now, University of Chicago Medicine announced a data breach with […]

The Vermont Supreme Court issued a ruling permitting a patient to take legal action against a hospital and nurse for privacy violation, irrespective of Vermont law and the HIPAA law that do not allow private […]

Microsoft issued another warning regarding the BlueKeep vulnerability in Remote Desktop Services (CVE-2019-0708) after publishing online proof-of-concept exploits for the vulnerability. Microsoft issued fixes for the vulnerability on May 14, 2019. Patches were also made […]

In March 2015, health insurer Premera Blue Cross in Seattle reported a major data breach that affected close to 10.6 million plan members. The breach happened in 2014 and a wide range of information was […]

People Inc. is a non-profit health and human services firm located in Western New York providing services to elderly people and people with developmental disabilities. A phishing attack on the organization affected roughly 1,000 persons. […]

Medical Oncology Hematology Consultants (MOHC), a Newark,DE based cancer treatment center, suffered an email security breach that lead to the compromise of the protected health information (PHI) of some patients. MOHC published a substitute breach […]

Many view the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights’ enforcement of HIPAA compliance as excessively punitive. Compliance investigations after receiving complaints or data breaches reports usually result to the discovery of HIPAA Rules violations and sizable […]

A recent announcement requires Medical Informatics Engineering (MIE) to pay a financial penalty amounting to $900,000 to resolve a multi-state lawsuit over the HIPAA violations linked to a breach of 3.9 million records in 2015. […]

Microsoft released a patch on May 14, 2019 for fixing a ‘wormable’ vulnerability found in Windows, which is the same as the vulnerability exploited by attackers in the WannaCry ransomware attacks in May 2017. The […]

Ever since the implementation of the requirements of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 in the 2013 Omnibus Final Rule by the Department of Health and Human Services, […]

Medical Informatics Engineering, Inc (MIE) settled with the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights its HIPAA violation case by paying $100,000. MIE provides electronic medical record software and services in Indiana. Its case of serious data […]

Thousands of health records were found left behind in a public dumpster located in Texas. The boxes comprise of patient and employee records from Today’s Vision and include documents that contain highly sensitive data. Today’s […]

Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) suffered another breach involving the e-mail account of one personnel working at its Southeastern Regional Medical Center. The breach on March 10, 2019 happened after a phishing attack. The […]

The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) spoke about their concerns on the interoperability plans of the HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). […]

April was really bad for healthcare data breaches. The number of reported data breaches this month is higher than any other month since October 2009 when the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for […]

A recent Forescout study highlighted the poor condition of healthcare cybersecurity. The study showed the over reliance of the healthcare industry on legacy software, the extensive use of vulnerable protocols, and the lack of security […]

American Baptist Homes of the Midwest (ABHM), which provides assisted living and assisted care facilities throughout the U.S Midwest, announced a ransomware attack on its systems causing a security breach. The attack was launched around […]

The Southeastern Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (SCADD) located in Lebanon, CT had a ransomware attack that caused considerable file encryption. SCADD experienced network problems that led to the discovery of the ransomware attack […]

A sexual assault victim filed a lawsuit against Atchison Hospital in Kansas because allegedly a hospital x-ray technician shared sensitive data to her attacker regarding her treatment at the hospital. As per the Kansas City […]

The 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report has been released. It gives a detailed summary of data breaches that public and private entities reported all over the world. The extensive report gives exhaustive insights and […]

Verity Health System’s St. Vincent Medical Center discovered the compromise of a web email account because of a phishing attack. The breach took place on March 15, 2019 where a hospital pathologist’s email account was […]

The website owner of Bodybuilding.com, a website about bodybuilding and fitness, reported a security breach that could have caused the access of client and personnel data by unauthorized persons. Under HIPAA, this kind of breach […]

After the Inmediata breach that caused the exposure of PHI, the company sent by mail notification letters to the people affected by the breach. However many people reported that they got notification letters addressed to […]

Facebook is applying some changes to Facebook Groups that talk about health conditions. This move was prompted because of the criticism on Facebook Groups that despite its being offered as private and confidential, third parties […]

A vulnerability was found in the Philips Tasy EMR system. An attacker can take advantage of the vulnerability and transmit unexpected data to the system that could execute an arbitrary code, alter data flow, impact […]

The U.S Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) released its yearly evaluation of the HHS to ascertain compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2014 (FISMA). Ernst & […]

The DICOM image format has been available for about 30 years. It has a design ‘flaw’ that hackers could exploit to add malware in image files. If that happens, the protected health information (PHI) will […]

A notification of enforcement discretion issued by the Department of Health and Human Services about the civil monetary penalties applied whenever there are HIPAA Rules violations discovered will reduce the maximum financial penalty in three […]

The Washington legislature made a unanimous decision to pass HB 1071 / SB 5064, a new data breach notification law. The only the bill needs is the signature of Washington Governor Jay Inslee. The law […]

The King County Superior Court lately agreed to a $4.7 million settlement to pay back the people whose personal data were stolen in a breach at Washington State University in April 2017. Portable hard drives […]

Three breaches involving patients’ protected health information (PHI) due to email hacking were reported. The three hacking incidents affected a total of 8,635 patients. The first breach happened in the Center for Sight and Hearing […]

The HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) has published a second draft of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) and is accepting comments on the revised material. The objective […]

The highly sensitive data of patients who had received treatment at addiction rehabilitation centers were discovered to be publicly accessible online because of an unsecured database. There were around 4.91 million records in the database, […]

Gulf Coast Pain Consultants, also called Clearway Pain Solutions Institute, found out that its EMR system was accessed by an unauthorized individual. A breach investigation which started on February 20, 2019 revealed that a variety […]

993 beneficiaries of Medicaid or have obtained services from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) living in Ohio received notification that unauthorized persons potentially viewed some of their protected health information (PHI) […]

A malware was installed on the systems of Riverplace Counseling Center in Anoka, MN, which resulted to the access of the protected health information (PHI) of patients by unauthorized persons. The counseling center discovered the […]

The website of Blue Cross of Idaho was hacked resulting to the access of its member portal by an unauthorized person who viewed the protected health information (PHI) of some members. Blue Cross of Idaho […]

The consultancy company CynergisTek conducted a study recently and found that healthcare organizations aren’t in conformity to the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) controls. CynergisTek studied the NIST CSF […]

The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) received another report of a phishing attack that resulted to the compromise of an employee’s email account. This security breach transpired on or before March 26, 2018. This […]

Massachusetts Baystate Health had a phishing attack which impacted the protected health information (PHI) of 12,000 patients. A few employees had their email accounts compromised between February 7 to March 7, 2019. When Baystate Health […]

A phishing attack on Palmetto Health, which is now called Prisma Health, allowed unauthorized persons to access several email accounts. Palmetto Health employees received email messages that have a malicious hyperlink. When the employees clicked […]

Amazon announced a new service that allows healthcare professionals to de-identify medical images by automatically removing any identifying protected health information (PHI) presented in the images. Pictures taken in medical settings often contain personally identifiable […]

A group of 81 female patients of Sharp HealthCare and Sharp Grossmont Hospital have filed a lawsuit against the facility for severe breaches in patient privacy. The lawsuit alleges that the hospital secretly recorded video […]

The number of health and fitness apps and devices has exploded in recent years. These technologies offer the user assistance in achieving a healthier lifestyle by offering personalised guidance or helping the user track any […]

A patient who found her discovered that her private medical information was available on social media platforms is suing the Northwestern Medicine Regional Medical Group for PHI exposure. Earlier this month, Gina Graziano discovered that […]

UCLA Health has settled a class action lawsuit filed by victims of a 2014 data breach for $7.5 million. The UCLA Health breach was one of the largest data breaches in history. Hackers accessed the […]

Beazley Breach Response Services have released a new report indicating that 71% of ransomware attacks target small and medium businesses (SMBs). Ransomware is malware variant which denies the user access to their device, or individual […]

Security researchers have identified two vulnerabilities in the Conexus telemetry protocol used by Medtronic MyCarelink monitors, CareLink monitors, CareLink 2090 programmers, and 17 implanted cardiac devices. One vulnerability is rated as ‘critical’, and the other […]

The University of Washington is alerting nearly a million patients of a data breach that resulted in unauthorised individuals being able to access their protected health information (PHI) through search engines online. The error was […]

Senator Gary Farmer (D-FL) and Representative Bobby DuBose (D-FL) have proposed new bills concerning consumers’ data privacy rights over their biometric data. The Florida Biometric Information Privacy Act aims to “establish requirements and restrictions on […]

Sharecare Health Data Services has reported that an unauthorised individual gained access to sensitive information stored in their systems. Sharecare Health Data Services (SHDS), based in San Diego, provides secure electronic exchange and medical records […]

The 2019 edition of the Verizon Mobile Security Index has been released, showing the significant risk that mobile device breaches pose to the healthcare industry. The report surveyed eight industry sectors to assess the data […]

Columbia Surgical Specialists have announced a ransomware attack on their facility has potentially compromised the PHI of up to 400,000 patients. Columbia Surgical Specialists (CSS), based in Spokane, Washington, discovered the attack on January 9, […]

Senator Catherine Cortex Masto (D-NV) has introduced a new bill which aims to tackle concerns consumers face about the collection and use of their data. Senator Catherine Cortex Masto’s “Data Privacy Act” calls for organisations […]

Kentucky Counselling Center has announced that a data breach has resulted in the exposure of 16,440 patient data files.  On January 4, 2019, a former employee notified Kentucky Counselling Center (KCC) that they had received […]

Rutland Medical Center has announced it has experienced a data breach after an unauthorised individual gained access to the email accounts of several employees. An employee of Rutland Medical Center noticed the breach after realising […]

UConn Health has announced that a recent phishing attack has compromised approximately 326,000 patient files.  UConn Health is the branch of the University of Connecticut that oversees clinical care, advanced biomedical research, and academic education […]

Drupal has released an update which corrects a critical vulnerability in the Drupal CMS.  Drupal is a free and open-source content management framework and provides the back-end framework for approximately 2.3% of websites worldwide.  The […]

Deep Instinct has announced that it has identified a new phishing campaign is spreading Separ malware.   Researchers at Deep Instinct identified the last campaign in January 2019. The threat actors behind this version of […]

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) has released a guide to mobile device security. The guide entitled NIST Special Publication 1800-4 Mobile Device Security: Cloud & Hybrid Builds provides practical advice for organisations looking to […]

Researchers at Carbon Black have identified a new Shlayer malware variant that targets Mac computers running MacOS versions 10.10.5 to 10.14.3. The researchers first identified the OrA new Shlayer malware variant a year ago. Mac […]

The Oregon Health Information Property Act proposes that individuals may give permission to their healthcare providers to sell their health data and receive financial compensation from the transaction.   Democrat Senator Floyd Prozanski proposed Senate […]

A new Business Email Compromise (BEC) attack targeting high-level executives has been identified. BEC campaigns are a form of phishing attack in which the cybercriminal impersonates a high-ranking member of an organisation, such as CEO […]

The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) has issued an alert about vulnerabilities found in the IDenticard PremiSys access control system. ICS-CERT, a governmental organisation that works to reduce the risk of cybercrime […]

Aetna has agreed to pay the California Attorney General $935,000 for a 2017 breach which resulted in the exposure of the HIV status of 1,991 Californian residents. In July 2017, Aetna, a health insurer based […]

The Supreme Court of Illinois has issued a new ruling which allows individuals whose privacy has been violated through a breach of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act to take legal action against a private […]

The Governor of Massachusetts has signed in a new law that updates the state’s existing data breach laws. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed the law, named “An Act relative to consumer protection from security breaches” […]

A Georgia-based paediatric cardiologist was sentenced to 6 months’ probation after pleading guilty to violating HIPAA legislation by disclosing patient PHI to an unauthorised organisation. Dr Eduardo Montana, 55, plead guilty at the Department of […]

An alert has been issued to IT service providers and their customers about an increase in Chinese malicious cyber activity. The warning was issued by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) United States Computer Emergency Readiness […]

The results of an investigation into a data breach at SingHealth, Singapore’s largest health network, highlight the importance of even the most basic cybersecurity practices for organisations across the globe. The data breach at SingHealth […]

The National Counterintelligence and Security Centre (NCSC) has launched a public awareness campaign with the aim of improving the response of businesses to cybersecurity threats. NCSC, part of the Office of the Director of National […]

A study has been published which investigated how data breaches affect hospital advertising expenditure decisions. The study, entitled “Understanding the Relationship Between Data Breaches and Hospital Advertising Expenditures” was published by Sung J. Choi, PhD […]

A cybersecurity blog has reported that a new vishing scam in which the scammer pretends to be an employee of Apple Inc. has been uncovered. Vishing is a less common form of phishing attack. The […]

Microsoft has issued patches for 51 vulnerabilities this January 2019 Patch Tuesday. Of the vulnerabilities, 7 were rated critical. Unlike the four preceding months, none vulnerabilities were identified as being actively exploited in the wild. […]

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a critically important piece of legislation created to introduce minimum security and privacy standards in the healthcare industry. HIPAA is a federal law, organisations […]

The San Diego Unified School District has announced that a phishing attack on its network has affected more than half a million of its staff and current and former students. The San Diego Unified School […]

The Clearwater CyberIntelligence Institute (CCI) has announce that it has identified the three most critical cybersecurity risks facing the organisations in the healthcare industry. CCI, part of Clearwater Compliance, a leading healthcare cyber risk management […]

A flaw has been identified in Orange Livebox ADSL modems that causes the modems to “leak” WiFi credentials. Orange Livebox is an ADSL wireless router used to deliver broadband services to customers of Orange S.A., […]

The final version of the Risk Management Framework (RMF 2.0) has been released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce. The […]

Patients affected by a data security incident at LifeBridge Health in March 2018 have filed a lawsuit against the facility. LifeBridge Health, a nonprofit healthcare corporation in Baltimore, Maryland, discovered that malware had infected one […]

The United States Senate has introduced a bill that would introduce new protections for the personal information of individuals online. The bill, entitled the Data Care Act, was proposed by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) on […]

The University of Vermont Health Network has revealed that a data security incident at the facility has affected approximately 32,000 patients. The breach was discovered on October 18, 2018. An unauthorised third-party had gained access […]

The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) has issued an advisory about a vulnerability that has been identified in certain Medtronic CareLink and Encore Programmers. ICS-CERT, an organisation created to identify and tackle problems […]

IntSights, a security threat intelligence services reviewer, has released a recent study entitled “Chronic [Cyber] Pain: Exposed & Misconfigured Databases in the Healthcare Industry”. The report highlights how easily accessible huge amounts of healthcare data […]

The University of Maryland Medical System has recently announced that it has been the victim of a malware attack on its network. The University of Maryland Medical System is a private, not-for-profit corporation that operates […]

In late November, the Department of Justice indicted two Iranian threat actors over the use of SamSam ransomware. However, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are urging organisations that the threat […]

The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) and the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) have called for officials to reform the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The calls for reform were made on […]

The Attorney Generals of a dozen states have filed a lawsuit against Medical Informatics Engineering, a healthcare software and systems developer and NoMoreClipboard, an electronic platform for personal health records. The lawsuit is over the […]

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has announced the winners of its Easy EHR Issues Reporting Challenge. ONC is a federal entity that coordinates […]

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a report questioning the integrity of security systems at two managed care organizations (MCOs) in Arizona following security audits of the […]