Cybersecurity

The digital security of healthcare institutions and data is a growing concern, with an increasing number of cyberattacks each year against healthcare systems, which are seen as easy targets. Cyber attacks often use ransomware to target personal health information, patient data and medical devices to cut off access to the data until a ransom is payed to the hacker. Cybercriminals have become more sophisticated, using malware, ransomware and spyware to attack outdated and vulnerable systems and software. Due to the interconnected nature of hospital IT systems today, the weakest link can be older web-enabled medical devices, including clinical and non-clinical systems. Employees are also a major target of attacks via malicious e-mails that prompt them to open attachments that then download malware onto the hospital's IT system.

Aspire Health email system hacked, loses some protected health information

Nashville healthcare company Aspire Health is still trying to identify a hacker that attacked its email system and took some patient health information, according to a report by The Tennessean.

September 28, 2018

Healthcare providers, health plans accounted for most breaches, patient records exposed

Between 2010 and 2017, healthcare providers and health plans accounted for the most breaches and largest number of patient records compromised from breaches, according to a research letter published in JAMA.

September 26, 2018

UMass Memorial entities ordered to pay $230K fine for data breaches

The Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General announced on Thursday, Sept. 20, that UMass Memorial Medical Group, Inc. and UMass Memorial Medical Center, Inc. have been ordered to pay $230,000 following two separate data breaches that exposed the personal health information of more than 15,000 people.

September 25, 2018
Boston

Boston hospitals fined nearly $1M for potential HIPAA violations

The federal government has fined three Boston hospitals nearly $1 million for potential HIPAA violations regarding a documentary series.

September 21, 2018

Pennsylvania health insurance company warns of security breach

A Pennsylvania health insurance company issued a notice following a security incident that exposed the private health information of some members.

September 20, 2018

ER worker allegedly stole, sold patient records through encrypted phone app

A Brooklyn hospital emergency room worker is being accused of stealing private patient records and selling them through an encrypted phone application, according to a report by the New York Daily News.

September 17, 2018

40K notified after ransomware attack on Fetal Diagnostic Institute

The Fetal Diagnostic Institute of the Pacific in Honolulu issued a public notice following a ransomware attack that potentially exposed the healthcare data of 40,800 people.

September 14, 2018

FDA aims to strengthen cybersecurity of medical devices

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working to strengthen the cybersecurity of medical devices in the wake of computer-hacking threats, according to a report by the Star Tribune.

September 12, 2018

Around the web

U.S. health systems are increasingly leveraging digital health to conduct their operations, but how health systems are using digital health in their strategies can vary widely.

When human counselors are unavailable to provide work-based wellness coaching, robots can substitute—as long as the workers are comfortable with emerging technologies and the machines aren’t overly humanlike.

A vendor that supplies EHR software to public health agencies is partnering with a health-tech startup in the cloud-communications space to equip state and local governments for managing their response to the COVID-19 crisis.

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