Why Healthcare Security Matters

Minimalist · Jun 8, 2018

Nearly Half of Healthcare Execs Say Cybersecurity Challenges Create M&A Headaches

Ever-increasing cybersecurity challenges have left nearly half of healthcare professionals dissatisfied with the steps taken to protect critical information and ward off threats after merging with or acquiring another firm, according to a recent research report.
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https://securityintelligence.com/ne...cybersecurity-challenges-create-ma-headaches/

guest · Jun 11, 2018

Dignity Health discloses multiple data breaches to HHS
June 11, 2018
https://www.scmagazine.com/dignity-health-discloses-multiple-data-breaches-to-hhs/article/772440/

The San Francisco-based health care facilities operator Dignity Health recently experienced an accidental email breach affecting 55,947 patients, according to a May 31 disclosure form the not-for-profit corporation filed with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In a blog post filed last week, DataBreaches.net reports that Dignity Health acknowledged in a statement that an email list that was formatted by third-party partner Healthgrades contained a sorting error that caused the company to send emails to the wrong patients last April.
DataBreaches further reports that Dignity Health recently reported experienced two other breach incidents. [...] Additionally, the company last month reported to HHS that three of its Nevada hospitals mistakenly continued to send documents with patient information to a third-party contractor after his or her contract had expired. That contract was later renewed anyway. A total of 6,016 patients were involved in this incident.

In related news, multiple outlets are reporting [1, 2] that Terros Health on June 8 publicly disclosed a data breach impacting roughly 1,600 patients, nearly all of whom received treatment at a medical clinic in Phoenix.
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guest · Jun 12, 2018

French company fined 250,000 euros for a data leak
June 12, 2018
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2018/06/12/optical-center-data-leak/

CNIL, the French data protection authority, has decided to impose a 250,000 euro fine on Optical Center, a French company selling eye and hearing aids, because it failed to secure the data of customers that ordered products via its website.

After an online check they discovered that, by entering several URLs in a browser’s address bar, it was possible to access customers’ invoices, which contain personal data (first and last name, physical address, social security number) and health data (ophthalmic correction).

The 250,000 euro fine is the highest ever imposed in France for a security breach, but all this happened before the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became applicable. The latter mandates even higher fines: up to 4% of the organization’s worldwide annual turnover or 20 million euros (whichever amount is greater).
CNIL also decided to go public with the decision because of “the particular sensitivity of the data that was made freely available, the number of clients impacted and the volume of documents contained in the company’s database at the time of the incident (more than 334,000).”
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ronjor · Jun 12, 2018

Should the FDA Create a Cybersecurity Measuring Stick?

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) June 12, 2018
Agency Gets Suggestions for 'Software as a Medical Device' Precertification Program
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ronjor · Jun 13, 2018

Health System Seeks Patients' Help to Mitigate Email Mishap

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) • June 13, 2018
A breach involving misdirected emails to nearly 56,000 patients allegedly tied to a sorting error by a business associate has taken an unusual twist: The organization involved, Dignity Health, is asking for patients' help in mitigating the privacy mishap.
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ronjor · Jun 14, 2018

HealthEquity breach affects 23,000 individuals

By Joseph Goedert Published June 13 2018
HealthEquity, a custodian of more than 3.4 million health savings accounts, has had a data breach after one employee’s email account was accessed by an unauthorized person.

Two companies in Michigan that receive services from Draper, Utah-based HealthEquity were affected by the breach and have been offered five years of credit monitoring and identity theft protective services from ID Experts. There were 23,000 individuals impacted by this incident across all of the accounts HealthEquity serves.
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ronjor · Jun 18, 2018

Exclusive: BetterDoctor being acquired

Ina Fried
Why it matters: While much is made over the role of AI and machine learning in cutting costs for healthcare, those techniques are only effective if the underlying data is good. The deal brings together two companies that work behind the scenes to help health care systems keep accurate information on doctors in their networks.
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ronjor · Jun 18, 2018

Google Is Training Machines to Predict When a Patient Will Die

By Mark Bergen June 18, 2018
AI advances by the 'Medical Brain' team could help the internet giant finally break into the health-care business
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guest · Jun 19, 2018

mood said: ↑

NHS England fingered over failure to forward patient correspondence
Millions wasted and patient harm 'cannot be ruled out'
June 6, 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/...ailure_to_forward_patient_correspondence_pac/
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Capita admits it won't make money on botched NHS England contract
Outsourcer's mea culpa: firm failed on due diligence, lacked data, closed offices too fast
June 19, 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/...t_make_money_on_botched_nhs_england_contract/

Embattled outsourcing giant Capita has made a loss of £140m trying to deliver on a seven-year contract to upgrade back-office support in the NHS – and never expects to turn a profit on it.

"I think it's fair to say there wasn't enough due diligence," said Sharp, when asked about the tendering for the work, which effectively involved folding 45 offices into three. "Capita didn't glean all the data it could and should have."

Lewis, meanwhile, emphasised that the firm had invested £125m in the work, which with added loss margins would be closer to £140m – money it did not expect to make back.
'Access to resources should not impede delivery' [...]
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ronjor · Jun 19, 2018

$4.3 Million HIPAA Penalty for 3 Breaches

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) • June 18, 2018
A lack of device encryption will cost a Texas-based cancer treatment center $4.3 million in civil monetary penalties from the Department of Health and Human Services.
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Minimalist · Jun 19, 2018

Um, excuse me. Do you have clearance to patch that MRI scanner?

Healthcare regulations oblige medical equipment vendors to focus on developing the next generation of technologies rather than addressing current cybersecurity issues, according to experts presenting at the eighth Israel Cyber Week.
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https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/19/healthcare_regulations_working_against_cybersecurity/

ronjor · Jun 20, 2018

Analysis: Health Data Breach Tally Trends

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) June 19, 2018
A Tuesday snapshot of the Department of Health and Human Services' HIPAA Breach Reporting Tool website - commonly called the "wall of shame," shows a total of 161 breaches added so far in 2018.
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ronjor · Jun 20, 2018

Hacking Incident at Billing Vendor Affects 270,000 Patients

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) June 20, 2018
A hacking incident at a claims processing company in New York has impacted 270,000 patients of 42 physician practices, which means it likely is one of the largest health data breaches so far this year.
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ronjor · Jun 22, 2018

Ruling Reaffirms Individuals Cannot File HIPAA Lawsuits

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) • June 22, 2018
A federal court recently dismissed a case filed by a patient alleging a laboratory violated HIPAA by failing to shield from public view her personal health information displayed on a computer intake station.
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ronjor · Jun 28, 2018

Patients should control their data, and this blockchain startup wants to make it happen

by Rebecca Campbell
Healthcare industry leader Jim Bonnette, MD, who is part of Timicoin as a medical advisor, says that the US has a multi-billion dollar marketplace for information sold to data brokers and pharmaceutical and device manufacturers. Yet patients receive none of the monetary benefits.
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guest · Jun 28, 2018

Cyber nasties downed NHS systems for 1,300 hours over 36 months
FoI request reveals extent of attacks on UK healthcare
June 28, 2018
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/28/nhs_downtime_troubles/

Nearly a third of the trusts (25 out of 80) that responded to an FoI request from Intercity Technology admitted they had experienced outages across their IT systems between January 2015 and February 2018.

Of the 25 trusts that endured a digi-blackout, 14 did so as a result of a security breach. In total, the trusts experienced 18 security breaches over the last three years, causing 18 days of downtime.

These attacks included the infamous WannaCry ransomware outbreak in May 2017, while others fell victim to the Locky and Zepto malware, the most severe of which knocked systems offline for two weeks.

Intercity Technology sent 143 NHS Trusts in England FoI requests in February 2017. Eighty responded.
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ronjor · Jun 28, 2018

National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against 601 Individuals Responsible for Over $2 Billion in Fraud Losses

Thursday, June 28, 2018
Largest Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action in Department of Justice History Resulted in 76 Doctors Charged and 84 Opioid Cases Involving More Than 13 Million Illegal Dosages of Opioids
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guest · Jul 1, 2018

Alaska public assistance agency discloses data breach from Trojan horse virus
The breach, which may have exposed the personal information at least 500 people, occurred after a computer was infected with the malware.
June 29, 2018
https://statescoop.com/alaska-public-assistance-agency-discloses-data-breach-from-trojan-horse-virus

Officials in Alaska announced Thursday that the state's Division of Public Assistance, which manages the state's welfare programs, experienced a data breach earlier this year that potentially exposed the personal information of more than 500 individuals.
The breach occurred April 26 when an agency computer in far northern Alaska was infected with malware known as Zeus, or sometimes Zbot.

The Alaska computer hit by Zbot contained sensitive documents including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, pregnancy statuses, death records, and Medicaid and Medicare billing codes for public-assistance recipients throughout northern Alaska.

A spokeswoman told the Associated Press there is no evidence personal information stored on the computer has been used in a malicious way, though officials are still assessing the full scope of the cyberattack.
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stapp · Jul 2, 2018

NHS data breach affects 150,000 patients in England

The NHS is blaming a coding error for 150,000 patients in England being involved in a data breach.
Those affected had requested that their confidential health information only be used to help provide them with care.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44682369

ronjor · Jul 3, 2018

Humana Notifying Victims of 'Identity Spoofing' Attack

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) July 2, 2018
Health Plan: Large Volume Log-In Attempts Coming From 'Foreign Countries'

Humana is notifying individuals in multiple states that the company was a recent target of a "sophisticated cyber spoofing attack" that potentially compromised personal information of its members, including those participating in the health insurer's Go365 wellness programs.
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guest · Jul 3, 2018

NHS app: Will it cut down on wasted appointments?
The government has unveiled a new NHS mobile app that will put patients in England in direct touch with their GPs.
July 2, 2018
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-44676493

The app will allow users to book appointments, order repeat prescriptions and see their medical files held by the surgery.

They will also be able to sign up as organ donors, decide how their health data is used and get advice from the 111 service.
Security stressed
Its chair, Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, also warned that security must be a priority.
"Considering that patients' medical history will be accessible on individuals' mobile phones on the apps, we need to ensure that the security and reliability of the identity verification processes being used are of the highest international security standards," she said.

AskmyGP's founder Harry Longman [...] He says that research shows that only 30% of patients seeking help need a face-to-face appointment.
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ronjor · Jul 10, 2018

Software Flaws: Why Is Patching So Hard?

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) • July 10, 2018
Federal Agency Offers Insights on Vulnerability Mitigation; Others Weigh In
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guest · Jul 10, 2018

Cass Regional Medical Center Hit With Unidentified Ransomware
July 10, 2018
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ical-center-hit-with-unidentified-ransomware/

Cass Regional Medical Center, a Missouri health care center, announced on their Facebook page that they have been affected by an undisclosed ransomware. This incident affected their internal communications system and their electronic health record (EHR) system.

"Hospital leadership initiated the organization’s incident response protocol within 30 minutes of the first signs of attack," a post to their Facebook page stated. "Patient care managers met to develop detailed plans to ensure that patient care continued to be provided in a safe and effective manner, while information technology and senior leaders are working with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts to develop a quick resolution to the situation."

While it is not clear how the medical center's computers/servers were infected, they have contacted law enforcement and are using outside help in resolving this matter.,
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ronjor · Jul 11, 2018

Innovation in healthcare: A hacker’s dream and CISO’s nightmare?

Nick Viney, Regional VP for the UK, Ireland and South Africa, McAfee
July 11, 2018
It’s hard not to be excited about artificial intelligence and machine learning in pure technology terms, but applying these innovations to the healthcare sector has the potential to do truly great things for humanity. Just imagine if these technologies could help us to diagnose and treat some of the world’s most pressing health crises.
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ronjor · Jul 12, 2018

Puzzling Health Dept. Privacy Incident Exposes HIV Data

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee (HealthInfoSec) • July 12, 2018
Thousands of Individuals' Data Was Allegedly Accessible to All Agency Workers
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