Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022 – What’s In It?

In March of 2022, President Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022. The Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022 wears many hats. The law reauthorizes the Anti-Violence Against Women Act, increases defense spending, provides aid to Ukraine, and funds the White House internship program, allowing interns to be paid for the first time. One of the less big-ticket - but by no [...]

2023-07-26T14:46:45-04:00May 18th, 2022|

Should You Have a HIPAA Compliant Password Manager?

As technology makes our lives easier, it brings the challenge of remembering all the various usernames and passwords required to access our data. Many of us take advantage of password management applications in our personal lives, but is there a way to bring that convenience into our work life? Does a HIPAA compliant password manager even exist? We will look at what [...]

2023-07-27T13:51:40-04:00February 7th, 2022|

HIPAA Compliance Helps Prevent Small Practice Cybercrime

Most security experts agree that it is no longer a question of if cybercriminals will target your practice, but when. Hacking, phishing attacks, and ransomware can effectively cripple your business and cost you resources and reputation. But the best tool to prevent small practice cybercrime can be as basic as having a truly effective HIPAA compliance strategy. Reasons to Prevent Small Practice [...]

2023-07-27T14:29:35-04:00January 18th, 2022|

Telehealth Security Concerns in Mental Health Uncovered in Patient Survey

A recent survey uncovered security gaps in over a third of telehealth appointments by mental health providers. The survey, conducted by Propeller Insights on behalf of Dr. First, asked more than 1,000 mental health patients about whether or not they used telehealth services for their sessions, and for those that did, if those sessions met HIPAA standards. The survey findings, as well as telehealth security, are discussed in [...]

2023-07-27T15:34:01-04:00December 20th, 2021|

Top 4 Healthcare Cybersecurity Challenges

There are many cybersecurity challenges that face healthcare organizations, particularly as they’ve become more of a target for hackers. This is for several reasons such as the value of protected health information, technological risks, and lack of awareness. To provide guidance, top healthcare cybersecurity challenges are discussed. Healthcare Cybersecurity Challenges Hackers target healthcare data for its value The introduction of new technology [...]

2023-07-27T16:05:00-04:00November 24th, 2021|

Medical Device Security Risks Exposed in MRI Machines

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently released a statement in which they warned of vulnerabilities in Philips MRI 1.5T: Version 5.x.x. and MRI 3T: Version 5.x.x. These medical device security risks have the potential to allow unauthorized access to patient information, and the potential to modify system configurations. What Vulnerabilities Were Uncovered? There were three medical device security vulnerabilities uncovered [...]

2023-07-27T16:09:10-04:00November 17th, 2021|

2.8 Million Patients Affected by 2021 October Healthcare Breaches

October was Cybersecurity Awareness Month, but that didn’t stop healthcare breaches from surging with 2,817,162 patients affected by breaches last month. The vast majority of 2021 October healthcare breaches were hacking incidents targeting healthcare providers. There were a total of 49 healthcare breaches listed on the OCR breach portal in October: Type of entity breached 37 healthcare providers reported incidents (2,261,319 patients, 80.27% of total patients affected) 6 [...]

2023-07-27T16:13:28-04:00November 9th, 2021|

Cyber Threats in Healthcare and FIN12 Ransomware

Cyber threats in healthcare are constantly evolving and becoming more complex. A recent report released by Mandiant Intelligence uncovered the very real threat FIN12 ransomware poses to the healthcare sector. According to the report, 20% of FIN12 ransomware attacks target the healthcare sector. Healthcare organizations in North America in particular have cause for concern, with 85% of FIN12 ransomware attacks targeting victims in North America. [...]

2023-07-27T16:15:22-04:00November 3rd, 2021|

Healthcare Cyber Attacks on the Rise

Several major health systems have reported an onslaught of phishing, spoofing, and ransomware incidents. While these healthcare cyber attacks use different tactics, they all have the same end goal - to steal sensitive patient information.  Phishing Attack Targets UMass Memorial Health UMass Memorial Health recently informed patients that their protected health information (PHI) was potentially compromised in a healthcare cyber attack stemming [...]

2023-07-27T16:17:56-04:00October 27th, 2021|

Using the SLAM Method to Prevent HIPAA Phishing Attacks

Cybersecurity is at the top of mind for many businesses, especially during October’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The main cause for concern for healthcare organizations in particular is how to recognize phishing emails to prevent breaches. There is a simple method that healthcare organizations can use to aid in the identification of phishing emails, the SLAM method.  What Does the SLAM Acronym Stand [...]

2023-07-27T16:20:14-04:00October 22nd, 2021|