Cybersecurity Updates
- Froedtert Health of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, notified 760 patients that their PHI was exposed after being illegally accessed by a former employee.
- Hendrick Health of Abilene, TX notified 640,436 patients that their PHI was exposed after ransomware attack.
- Salem Clinic of Oregon notified 20,000 patients that their PHI was exposed after ransomware attack hit Metro Presort, which processes the clinic’s mail.
- The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) of New York, notified an unknown number of clients that their info was exposed after email phishing attack.
- ADT Inc., headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, notified an unknown number of customers that their video feeds from their ADT security cameras were accessed illegally by a former employee.
- Einstein Healthcare Network of Pennsylvania notified an unknown number of patients that their PHI was exposed after email phishing attack.
- HIPAA fines are not just from the feds! HIPAA Journal magazine recently reported on all the fines/settlements that were levied by state attorneys general for HIPAA violations.
- Includes:
- CHS = $5 million
- Anthem = $48.2 million
- Premera Blue Cross = $10 million
- Modern Healthcare magazine warns against most common email compromise attacks:
- Fake vaccine appointments
- Fake invoices
- Fake email requests
- Fake job listings
- Wandera Cloud Security published results of survey:
- During pandemic, employees are twice as likely to connect to inappropriate sites and infect network with malware
- Attacks now occurring on weekends, and less on weekdays due to remote workers
- 76% of executive are worried about security issues caused by remote workers
- 60% of employees are using personal devices to access company network
- 52% have experienced a malware incident on remote device
- Intel Corp. is investing claims that an employee illegally accessed to part of its quarterly earnings announcement before it was allowed to be released.
- Proofpoint Security published results of survey:
- 6% of chief security officers (CSOs) and chief information security officers (CISOs) that ransomware is now the biggest cybersecurity threat they face.
- Other top security concerns:
- Insider threats
- Cloud account compromise
- Email phishing
- Business email compromise
- Okanogan County government offices in Washington notified an unknown number of citizens that their info was exposed after ransomware attack.
The US Department of Health & Human Services reported:- In 2020, there was a 25% increase in reported PHI breaches
- Breaches have more than doubled since 2014
- At least 29 patients had their PHI exposed in 2020
- Main causes for PHI breaches include:
- 66.82% = hacking/IT related
- 22.27% = insider breaches
- 12.6% = paper records
- The FBI issued a Private Industry Notification, warning businesses that hackers areattacking enterprises in attempt to obtain employee credentials
- Using chat rooms and fishing techniques
- Then uses stolen credentials to access network and steal info and insert ransomware.
- Apple paid $50,000 to two white hat hackers to successfully finding some serious vulnerabilities and accessing Apple’s servers.
- The European Medicines Agency warned that hackers who stole COVID-19 vaccine info, manipulated it before placing it online to undermine trust in the vaccines.
- Malwarebytes Cybersecurity admitted it was hacked by same group that breached SolarWinds IT software.