The threat intelligence provider, Mandiant, says almost all cybersecurity leaders are happy with the threat intelligence they are consuming, but that intelligence is not always considered when they develop their cyber strategies and make purchasing decisions. The failure to effectively use threat intelligence data prevents organizations from getting the maximum ROI on their investment and… Read More »
Cyberattacks on business associates of healthcare organizations have increased to the point where attacks on business associates now outnumber attacks on healthcare providers. In addition to an increase in cyberattacks on third-party suppliers, the impact and destruction caused by those attacks have also increased, according to a recent report from the vendor risk management company,… Read More »
Umass Memorial Health has proposed a $1.2 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit that was filed on behalf of individuals affected by its 2020 hacking incident and data breach. Hackers gained access to Umass Memorial Health’s email environment between June 24, 2020 and January 7, 2021, as a result of responses to phishing… Read More »
Another lawsuit has been filed against Connexin Software over its August 2022 ransomware attack and data breach, which affected more than 2.2 million individuals. Connexin Software does business as Office Practicum and is a provider of electronic medical records and practice management software for pediatric practices. On August 26, 2022, Connexin discovered hackers had gained access… Read More »
Two Democratic U.S. Senators – Michael Bennett (D-CO) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) – have introduced a bill that seeks to strengthen the privacy protections of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for individuals seeking access to abortion care. The bill – The Secure Access for Essential Reproductive (SAFER) Health Act – was prompted by… Read More »
iCare Acquisitions has proposed a $3 million settlement to resolve claims from individuals affected by a 2021 data breach that affected almost 3.3 million 20/20 Eye Care Network and 20/20 Hearing Care Network health plan members. A security breach was detected in January 2021, when suspicious activity was identified in its AWS cloud storage environment.… Read More »
The deadline for reporting healthcare data breaches of fewer than 500 records is fast approaching. HIPAA-regulated entities must ensure these data breaches are reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) no later than March 1, 2023. Late reporting of data breaches is a HIPAA violation and can result in a financial penalty. The… Read More »
A bipartisan group of senators has written to three telehealth companies demanding answers about the use of third-party tracking technologies on their websites and details of the sensitive health data that they share with third parties such as Meta, Google, and social media networks. In the summer of 2022, The Markup/STAT conducted an investigation into… Read More »
Achieving compliance with the Rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) can be a challenge for healthcare organizations and their business associates. The HIPAA Rules were developed to cover healthcare organizations of different types and sizes, so the Rules needed to be flexible to accommodate this diversity. They also needed to be… Read More »
A joint cybersecurity advisory has been issued by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Republic of Korea’s Defense Security Agency and National Intelligence Service warning of state-sponsored North Korean (DPRK) ransomware attacks on U.S. critical… Read More »