Stay updated with the latest healthcare cybersecurity trends, news, and tips to protect patient data and comply with medical industry security standards.
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Background for this topic.
Healthcare is the delivery of clinical care and related services through hospitals, clinics, laboratories, pharmacies, insurers, and connected medical devices. It depends on electronic health records (EHRs), patient identity systems, diagnostic and imaging platforms, medication and scheduling systems, and data exchanges between organizations. These environments hold sensitive health and payment information, while the availability and integrity of systems can affect treatment, diagnostics, and patient safety.
Security concerns include unauthorized access or disclosure of records, alteration of clinical data, and disruption of care through attacks on EHRs, connected devices, or third-party services. Defenses require risk-based access controls, strong authentication, network separation where appropriate, secure device and software maintenance, backups that support clinical continuity, and tested downtime and incident-response procedures. Vulnerability management must account for legacy systems and devices that cannot be patched quickly. Privacy and compliance obligations, such as HIPAA in the United States, shape how organizations collect, use, share, retain, and report health information.
Also: Top Threat Actors Are Targeting Hospitals; Remembering Steve KatzIn the latest weekly update, editors at ISMG discuss the rampant rise in healthcare sector attacks and breaches in 2023, the most common vulnerabilities and targets, and remember the life of the Steve Katz, the world's first CISO who inspired generations of security leaders.
Kentucky health system Norton Healthcare has confirmed that a ransomware attack in May exposed personal information belonging to patients, employees, and dependents. [...]
Apps and Devices Powered by Open-Source Code Are Pervasive in HealthcareOpen-source software is pervasive in healthcare. It is used in critical systems such as electronic health records and components contained in medical devices. Federal regulators are urging healthcare sector firms to be vigilant in managing risks and threats involving open-source software.
Program Addresses Secondary Use of Patient Data by Third Parties for AI InitiativesThe Joint Commission is kicking off a new voluntary certification program for hospitals' "responsible use" of health data. The effort aims to help address growing privacy concerns over the secondary use of patient data by third parties for artificial intelligence initiatives and other activities.
Incident That Affected 35,000 Urgent Care Clinic Patients Results in $480K FineWeeks after the Department of Health and Human Services announced its first HIPAA enforcement action in a ransomware breach, federal regulators have reached another milestone: a $480,000 settlement in a HIPAA case centered for the first time ever on a phishing attack.
Unauthorized actors accessed patient information, including exam and procedure details, scans, and Social Security numbers.
NHS Trust admits highly sensitive data left online for nearly three years More than 22,000 patients of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were hit by data leaks that took place between 2020 and 2021.…
Information on cancer and maternity patients was accidentally disclosed by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
HHS Is Proposing New Cyber Regs for Hospitals and a HIPAA Security Rule UpdateThe U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday released a sweeping strategy document proposing how the Biden administration intends to push the healthcare sector - through new requirements, incentives and enforcement - into improving the state of its cybersecurity.
East River Medical Imaging Says Nearly 606,000 AffectedA New York medical imaging services provider is notifying nearly 606,000 individuals that their information was potentially accessed and copied in a recent hacking incident. The entity is one of several medical imaging centers that have reported major hacking breaches in recent weeks and months.
A collection of 21 security flaws have been discovered in Sierra Wireless AirLink cellular routers and open-source software components like TinyXML and OpenNDS
Urgent Action Needed to Prevent Ransomware Attacks Involving Vulnerability ExploitA recent spike in ransomware attacks has prompted federal regulators and the American Hospital Association to issue urgent warnings to hospitals and other healthcare firms to prevent potential exploitation of the Citrix Bleed software flaw affecting some NetScaler ADC and NetScaler Gateway devices.
The Malek Team, which previously hit a private college in Israel, claims responsibility for a hack of Israel's Ziv Medical Center.
US government organizations responsible for making sure healthcare products are safe and effective have proposed rules and are soliciting industry feedback regarding artificial intelligence and machine learning.