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 Cybercriminals have become more sophisticated, using malware, ransomware and spyware to attack outdated and vulnerable systems and software.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.

RSS icon
Thumbnail

Defending critical infrastructure from cyber attacks

NH-ISAC, the nation's Healthcare and Public Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center, is hard at work securing critical infrastructure in all sectors of the U.S., including healthcare, Deborah Kobza, the organization's executive director and CEO, said during the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Office of Civil Rights’ joint conference, “Safeguarding Health Information: Building Assurance through HIPAA Security,” on Sept. 24.

Thumbnail

Good security compliance requires passion

During the joint conference on mobile device security hosted by the Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights and the National Institute of Standards and Technology on Sept. 24, Daniel Solove, the John Marshall Harlan research professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, talked about how to wake up the C-suite to the importance of good security.

OCR official shares enforcement plans

The Office of Civil Rights may not have received more federal resources to do their job, but their efforts to better leverage technology and centralize activities will enable their enforcement goals, said Iliana L. Peters, JD, OCR’s senior advisor for HIPAA compliance and enforcement, at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the OCR’s joint conference, “Safeguarding Health Information: Building Assurance through HIPAA Security,” on Sept. 24.

Dell execs offer cybersecurity advice

The growing amount of data along with more and more mobile devices are adding up to big cybersecurity problems for healthcare. Almost half (43 percent) of major breaches targeted healthcare data in 2013.

New bracelet designed to bolster health IT security

Researchers at Dartmouth College have developed a bracelet that authenticates users continuously while they are using a terminal—and automatically logs them out after they leave the computer.

Thumbnail

Breach report identifies breach patterns, best mitigation

The 2014 Verizon Breach Investigations Report gathered the data from more than 63,000 cybersecurity incidents to get descriptive statistics and trending. Stephen Brannon of the Verizon Cyber Intelligence Center presented the latest results and associated recommended controls at Safeguarding Health Information: Building Assurance through HIPAA Security, a program hosted by the Dept. of Health & Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights and the National Institute of Standards and Technology held in Washington D.C. on Sept. 23.

Thumbnail

NIST framework: Assessing an organization’s cybersecurity readiness

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s voluntary framework for reducing cyber risks to critical infrastructure, released earlier this year, can assist providers in achieving their security goals, according to panelists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Office of Civil Rights’ joint conference, “Safeguarding Health Information: Building Assurance through HIPAA Security,” on Sept. 23.

Cedars-Sinai CIO: External threats are new horizon of health security

The historically closed systems of healthcare organizations now are exposed to a growing number of medical devices, smartphones, portable devices and other external risks, changing the security landscape of the industry, Darren Dworkin, CIO of Cedars-Sinai Health System said at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Office of Civil Rights’ joint conference, “Safeguarding Health Information: Building Assurance through HIPAA Security,” on Sept. 23.

Displaying 449 - 456 of 786

Around the web

Health Exec
These health systems have the biggest digital health portfolios

U.S. health systems are increasingly leveraging digital health to conduct their operations, but how health systems are using digital health in their strategies can vary widely.

Health Exec
Toylike robot pleases counseling clients where humanoid counterpart struggles to connect

When human counselors are unavailable to provide work-based wellness coaching, robots can substitute—as long as the workers are comfortable with emerging technologies and the machines aren’t overly humanlike.

Health Exec
Medsender, Patagonia Health team up to aid public health efforts against COVID-19

A vendor that supplies EHR software to public health agencies is partnering with a health-tech startup in the cloud-communications space to equip state and local governments for managing their response to the COVID-19 crisis.