Cybersecurity

The digital security of healthcare institutions and data is a growing concern, with an increasing number of cyberattacks each year against healthcare systems, which are seen as easy targets. Cyber attacks often use ransomware to target personal health information, patient data and medical devices to cut off access to the data until a ransom is payed to the hacker. Cybercriminals have become more sophisticated, using malware, ransomware and spyware to attack outdated and vulnerable systems and software. Due to the interconnected nature of hospital IT systems today, the weakest link can be older web-enabled medical devices, including clinical and non-clinical systems. Employees are also a major target of attacks via malicious e-mails that prompt them to open attachments that then download malware onto the hospital's IT system.

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Indiana health system victim of email phishing attack

An Indiana health system has been the victim of a sophisticated phishing attack.

800 impacted by billing employee's info sharing

A Pennsylvania hospital is notifying about 800 people treated in its emergency department that their personal information may have been compromised after being illegally disclosed by a former employee of an external billing company.

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2,200 UPMC ED patients' information compromised

A data theft at an outside medical billing company has led to about 2,200 people treated at various University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) emergency departments being notified that their records may have been illegally disclosed by an employee of Medical Management LLC (MML). MML and its affiliates provide billing services to healthcare providers throughout the United States, including to UPMC’s physician group Emergency Resource Management.  

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NY breach impacts 90K

Almost 90,000 patients have been notified that their data may have been compromised after a former New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. employee improperly accessed and transmitted files containing protected health information.

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Another major health-insurer hack attack, China again snooper of interest

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, which serves the Washington, D.C., area, has reported a hack into a database containing 1.1 million customer records.

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Wearables raising possible policy concerns over privacy and security

Wearable fitness-monitoring devices are not only motivating Americans to exercise more. When combined with providers’ use of wearable computers and cloud-based storage, they’re also pushing the healthcare system to ask whether HIPAA lines are being crossed.

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An important shift

This week in health IT a report found a disturbing change regarding data breaches. 

Indiana theft impacts data of 39K

Theft of a laptop and two hard drives from the car of an Indiana State Medical Association administrator is the source of a data breach impacting 39,090 members of its group health and life insurance plans.

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