Data breaches or leaks involving health or medical data.
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter addressing the cybersecurity incident impacting Change Healthcare, a unit of UnitedHealthcare Group (UHG), and many other health care entities. The cyberattack is disrupting health care and billing information operations nationwide and poses a direct threat to […]
The attack on United Healthcare’s Change Healthcare unit continues to cause major problems. Pharmacies are struggling to fill prescriptions, patients cannot get their medications, and payment processes for providers are impacted. The problems began February 21 after hackers, subsequently identified as the AlphV (BlackCat) group, gained access to UnitedHealth’s Change Healthcare unit. How they gained […]
Bloomberg Law reports: Pilfered snapshots of patients baring their bodies ahead of life-saving cancer operations and plastic surgeries are unexpectedly landing in the vast landscape of the public internet after cyberattacks, as hackers seek new ways to turn a profit. Campaigns to extort victims during ransomware attacks against health-care providers are evolving, according to lawsuits […]
Jeremy Fowler reports: Cybersecurity Researcher, Jeremiah Fowler, discovered and reported to vpnMentor about a non-password protected database that contained nearly 1.3 million records, which included COVID-19 testing information and personally identifiable information such as the patient’s name, date of birth, and passport number. The publicly exposed database contained an estimated 1.3 million records that included 118,441 certificates, […]
From the NYS Attorney General’s Office:
While many ransomware groups claim there’s nothing personal in what they are doing and that it’s “just business,” there are some lines even criminals should never cross. Interfering with patient care when lives might be on the line if care is delayed or disrupted is one such line. Attempting to harass, threaten, or extort seriously […]
The Record reports: A ransomware attack in May exposed 2.5 million patients of hospitals connected to healthcare giant Norton Healthcare. In notices submitted to regulators in Maine and California last week, the company said it discovered the attack on May 9 and later confirmed that it was dealing with a ransomware incident. After an investigation, the company said the […]
The HIPAA Journal reports: In late September 2023, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a lawsuit against CarePointe ENT over a ransomware attack and data breach that affected 48,742 individuals. A settlement has been reached that will see CarePointe pay $125,000 to resolve alleged violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Act and […]
CBIZ KA is a third-party vendor for Prime Healthcare that was affected by the MOVEit breach. They have issued the following notice: CBIZ KA, a third-party vendor for Prime Healthcare (Prime), discovered a security incident involving CBIZ’s use of MOVEit Transfer software, which has recently reported a security vulnerability. Prime takes the responsibility of safeguarding […]
‘Punishing the victims’: Would banning ransom payments stop hospital cyberattacks?
In its The State of Ransomware in the U.S. report for 2023, Emsisoft opined that the only solution to the ransomware crisis is to completely ban ransomware payments. That recommendation has generated some discussion, and now Becker’s has also reached out to health system CISOs to get their reaction to the recommendation. The majority’s opinion […]