As the final weeks of 2021 wrap up, the federal health data breach tally continues to show hacking incidents by far dominating as the top category of breaches being reported. That includes the addition of several major ransomware incidents reported by healthcare entities and vendors in recent weeks.
A medical biller in Florida and an emergency medical technician in New York have each pleaded guilty in two separate federal cases involving the criminal misuse of patient information. One case involved healthcare fraud and identity theft, and the other criminal HIPAA violations.
The Department of Health and Human Services has revealed its taken enforcement actions against five more healthcare providers in cases involving alleged failure to comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule right of access provision. One includes a rare civil monetary penalty, which was levied against a physician.
Many healthcare entities are resistant to implement multifactor authentication, and that is among the most frustrating critical security mistakes that organizations in that sector make, says Tom Walsh, founder of security consultancy tw-Security.
A recent hack of a Utah medical radiology group's network server has compromised sensitive health information of more than a half-million individuals, ranking the incident among the 20 largest health data breaches posted on the federal tally so far this year. What are the risks to patients?
A Portsmouth, Ohio-based hospital is still struggling to fully recover - continuing to cancel and postpone various patient care services - one week after it revealed that hackers had gained access to some of its servers in what appeared to be a "targeted cyberattack."
New Jersey state regulators have smacked two vendors with a hefty financial settlement and corrective action plan for their involvement in a 2016 printing and mailing mishap that compromised the health information of nearly 56,000 residents.
Two recently reported hacking incidents - each affecting tens of thousands of individuals - serve as contrasting examples of the wide range of time and difficulty it takes for some entities to determine and report protected health information breaches.
A recent large hacking incident and a separate vulnerability disclosure involving two different vendors' products related to electronic health records serve as reminders of the potential risks these systems can pose to patients' protected health information.
Ransomware incidents are becoming a major cause of health data breaches affecting millions of individuals that have been reported so far in 2021, according to the latest additions to the federal tally. What else is topping the list?
A recent cyberattack on Community Medical Centers in Northern California has potentially compromised the information of more than 656,000 individuals. Meanwhile, Las Vegas Cancer Center reportedly fell victim to a ransomware attack during Labor Day weekend.
Federal regulators are reminding healthcare organizations about the critical importance of addressing security risks involving legacy systems and devices - including specialty software and gear - that are often difficult for entities to replace. What steps should entities take?
Massachusetts-based UMass Memorial Health is the latest large healthcare network to report an email phishing incident that potentially compromised hundreds of thousands of individuals' protected health information. The unauthorized email access lasted about seven months.
A ransomware attack on a medical practice management services firm that included the possible "removal" of files containing patient information is among the latest security incidents involving similar third-party vendors.
Why do so many HIPAA -covered entities and their vendors do such a poor job managing security risk and safeguarding patient's protected health information? Many critical factors come into play, say Roger Severino, ex- director of HHS OCR, and Bob Chaput, founder of security consultancy Clearwater.
Our website uses cookies. Cookies enable us to provide the best experience possible and help us understand how visitors use our website. By browsing databreachtoday.com, you agree to our use of cookies.
