The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has releasednew guidance about how HIPAA-beholden entities can better equip themselves to deal with ransomware attacks.
Ransomware is a targeted kind of malware attack that takes data ‘hostage.’ The attackers responsible then give the organization a countdown to a time at which they expect to receive a ‘ransom’ in exchange for restored access to the withheld data.
A string of ransomware attacks struck hospitals across the US and Canada earlier in 2016. At the time, health care professionals were vocal about the need for formal guidance on the matter.
