House Committee Leaders Request Answers from Google and Ascension on Project...
Leaders of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce are seeking answers from Google and Ascension on Project Nightingale. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has also...
View ArticleSmartwatch Data Act Introduced to Improve Privacy Protections for Consumer...
The Stop Marketing And Revealing The Wearables And Trackers Consumer Health (Smartwatch) Data Act, has been introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy, M.D., (R-Louisiana) and Jacky Rosen, (D-Nevada). The new...
View ArticleGAO and VA OIG Identify Privacy and Security Failures at the Department of...
Privacy and security failures at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) have recently been identified by government watchdog agencies. Two reviews were conducted by the VA Office of Inspector...
View ArticleIT Firm Ransomware Attack Prevents Nursing Homes and Acute Care Facilities...
Virtual Care Provider Inc. (VCP), a Wisconsin-based provider of internet and email services, data storage, cybersecurity, and other IT services has experienced a ransomware attack that has resulted in...
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October 2019 Healthcare Data Breach Report
There was a 44.44% month-over-month increase in healthcare data breaches in October. 52 breaches were reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights in October. 661,830 healthcare records were reported...
View ArticleConsumer Online Privacy Rights Act Offers CCPA-Style Privacy Protections for...
A federal law giving U.S. citizens new rights over their personal data has been introduced by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington). The Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act (COPRA) proposes California...
View ArticleHealthcare Threat Detections Up 45% in Q3 and 60% Higher Than 2018
Cyberattacks on healthcare organizations have increased in frequency and severity in the past year, according to recently published research from Malwarebytes. In its latest report – Cybercrime Tactics...
View ArticleSenator Wicker Introduces U.S. Consumer Data Privacy Act of 2019
Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss), Chair of the Commerce Committee, has released a draft copy of the United States Consumer Data Privacy Act of 2019 (CDAP), a federal data privacy bill that is intended to...
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Rep. Jayapal Seeks Answers from Google and Alphabet on Ascension Partnership
Pressure is continuing to be applied on Google and its parent company Alphabet to disclose information about how the protected health information (PHI) of patients of Ascension will be used, and the...
View ArticleBlue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota Starts Correcting 200,000 Critical and...
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, the largest health insurer in the state, is now taking steps to fix around 200,000 unaddressed vulnerabilities on its servers that, in some cases, are more than a...
View Article15 Million Customers Potentially Impacted by Ransomware Attack on Large...
A major data breach has been reported by one of Canada’s largest medical testing and diagnostics companies. Toronto-based LifeLabs said hackers have potentially gained access to the personal and health...
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November 2019 Healthcare Data Breach Report
In November 2019, 33 healthcare data breaches of 500 or more records were reported to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR). That represents a 36.5% decrease in...
View ArticleDoE and OCR Issue Updated Guidance on Sharing Student Health Records under...
The Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights have issued updated guidance on the sharing of student health records under the Family Educational...
View ArticleDiscussion Draft of Federal Data Privacy Bill Released by House Energy and...
A discussion draft of a new bipartisan data privacy bill has been released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill calls for national standards for privacy and security and would place...
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HIPAA Enforcement in 2019
It has been another year of heavy enforcement of HIPAA compliance. HIPAA enforcement in 2019 by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Right (OCR) has resulted in 10 financial...
View ArticleHospital Employee Pleads Guilty to Five-Year Account Hacking Spree
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that a former employee of a New York City hospital has pleaded guilty to using malicious software to obtain the credentials of coworkers, which he...
View ArticleSupport for Windows 7 Finally Comes to an End
Microsoft is stopping free support for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2 on January 14, 2020, meaning no more patches will be released to fix vulnerabilities in the operating...
View ArticleCalifornia Bill Proposes Further Health Data Exemptions for CCPA
On January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) came into effect. CCPA enhanced privacy protections for state residents and gave Californians new rights over their personal data....
View ArticleNIST Privacy Framework Version 1.0 Now Released
On January 16, 2020, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued version 1.0 of its Privacy Framework. The purpose of the Privacy Framework is to help organizations of all sizes...
View ArticleMaze Ransomware Gang Publishes Research Data of Medical Diagnostic Laboratories
The operators of Maze ransomware are following through on their threats to publish data stolen from the victims of ransomware attacks when the ransom is not paid. In December, the Carrollton, GA-based...
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