Tag: Data Security

January 3, 2018

Having twice unknowingly had patient information stolen in 2015, 21st Century Oncology, a large organization with 143 treatment centers in 17 states, has reached agreement with the HHS Office for Civil Rights on a corrective action plan to comply with […]

December 7, 2017

It’s So Easy to Infiltrate If endpoint security – especially for smartphones – wasn’t a top-of-mind issue for healthcare IT leaders before, it certainly is now. I’ve spoken with numerous customers who struggle with it and are asking for guidance. […]

December 1, 2017

There is a paradigm shift in how tech giants perceive the healthcare environment as they move into medtech. Companies such as Verily, Apple, Samsung, and IBM are at the forefront venturing into the healthcare space. These companies are entering the […]

August 23, 2017

Data management is an integral, if tedious, part of running a medical practice. Whether you’re managing a small independent practice or collecting information for an entire hospital full of patients, it’s important to keep track of all your data and […]

August 17, 2017

Not a day goes by without a discussion of the rapid increase in data breaches impacting the healthcare industry. Information and statistics in this regard are inescapable. For instance, the so-called “Wall of Shame,” which is the public posting of […]

July 31, 2017

Implementing new electronic medical record (EMR) systems carries tremendous financial risk and hospitals run the risk of incurring operating losses, lower patient volumes and receivables write-offs if there are problems with adoption of a new EMR system, according to an […]

July 19, 2017

Cloud computing is still fairly new to healthcare and, as such, confusion and a few myths surround the technology. And many of those skewed perceptions are driven by simple misunderstandings, most notably about information security. Indeed, cloud providers offer a […]

July 10, 2017

Hackers and cybercriminals continued tapping into new techniques last month to essentially break into IT networks, if not cripple some of those. It’s not just Petya following in WannaCry’s footsteps, either. But since that ransomware turned wiper malware certainly grabbed the spotlight, it […]

July 7, 2017

Medical devices are loosely secured, making them a ripe target for cyberattackers, but what’s not as clear is exactly what must happen in the industry to solve this problem and what healthcare information security professionals should focus on in the […]

July 6, 2017

A post-acute rehabilitation center in San Jose, Calif., is notifying about 800 residents that a former employee may have compromised their protected health information. Executives at White Blossom Care Center received a report from an undisclosed source that an employee […]

July 3, 2017

Health care is a data-intensive industry. Technological advances have allowed healthcare organizations to use real-time data visualizations to improve their reporting capabilities and response times. Considering that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced every day, the issue clearly isn’t going away. […]

May 9, 2017

A highly sophisticated malware campaign has been targeting multiple industries, including the healthcare and public health sectors, for the past year, according to a May 2 alert from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center. The […]

May 3, 2017

Swift technological advancements often force healthcare decision makers to evaluate competing solutions to determine which is the smartest investment with the strongest potential to maximize return on investment. A key criteria for healthcare technology investment evaluation is careful analysis of […]

May 1, 2017

Western Health Screening, which provides onsite blood screening services at health fairs across the Colorado Western Slope region, is offering 15,326 affected individuals protective services following a data breach. Much of the at-risk patient information is not highly sensitive—data on […]

April 24, 2017

Access cannot be freely granted to data—such is the reality of the world today. Unnecessary risk is created if a vendor is allowed to freely access, use or otherwise interact with data. Why go down the risk-filled road when issues […]

April 19, 2017

If you’re a small healthcare IT operation, a simple spreadsheet might do the trick. If you’re larger, a not-so-simple spreadsheet might be in order. Regardless of how you do it, hospitals, clinics and other healthcare organizations must identify and monitor […]

April 11, 2017

Amateur cybercriminals may be shifting towards targeting the healthcare sector using an off-the-shelf ransomware, according to security researchers at Forcepoint Security Labs. Forcepoint is an Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity software company and Roland Dela Paz, a senior security researcher at the […]

April 7, 2017

There’s no doubt that the Internet of Things (IoT) provides critical security challenges for healthcare organizations that need to be addressed. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released guidance on handling medical device vulnerabilities, closely following the release of […]

March 30, 2017

Hackers are targeting File Transfer Protocol (FTP) servers that are operating in “anonymous” mode within medical and dental organizations, the FBI warns healthcare industry stakeholders. Criminal actors, according to the bureau, are accessing personal health information and personally identifiable information […]

March 24, 2017

Despite the fact that ransomware and hacking attacks draw the biggest headlines, it is actually improper insider access that causes the highest number of data breaches. Such are the results from the most recent Protenus “Breach Barometer,” which analyzes reported […]