HIPAA Blog
Nearly 974,000 UW Medicine Patients’ Medical Records Exposed
The University of Washington Medicine is notifying approximately 974,000 patients of a data breach that occurred in December, which left some of the patients’ information exposed on the Internet. The breach occurred over a 3-week period and was determined to be the result of a misconfigured server. The database was used to track the sharing …
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When a Healthcare Breach Lands You on the Wall of Shame
Healthcare breaches are incredibly difficult for organizations to deal with. Repercussions of a data breach vary greatly depending on what caused the breach to begin with. For example, there’s the struggle of getting your organization back up and running, determining the cause of the breach, notifying patients, taking corrective action, reporting the breach, potentially finding …
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Research Suggests Employees Remain the Weak Links in Security
We’ve known that employees are the weak link in security. In fact, we have been cautioning organizations for quite some time regarding the risks their employees pose when not properly trained. Despite heightened awareness of these risks, recent research from Microsoft suggests that employees remain the weak link, posing huge risks to their organizations. A …
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Sextortion Scam
You get an email or text from what seems to be a legitimate email or phone number. Then you read the message: “Send bitcoin right away or else I am sending compromising photos or information to your friends and family.” If you’ve received this type of email, you’ve likely been a victim to a new …
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Performing a Security Risk Assessment Offers Value Beyond Compliance
As the digital ecosystem continues to thrive and advance, so too must the regulations and practices for safely caring for sensitive data. That is especially true for the healthcare industry, which continues to be a prime target for cybercriminals. Healthcare practices need to appropriately safeguard electronic protected health information in compliance with the Health Insurance …
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Mystery Shopper Scams
Today, many people are working more than one job, and with the flexible options of contractor work, or work as needed opportunities, you can likely find something that fits your schedule and financial needs. Maybe you are looking for a little bit of extra work to make ends meet, or a way to save up …
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Ransomware Attack on CT Optometry Office Raises Tax Fraud Concerns
Ransomware Attack on CT Optometry Office Raises Tax Fraud Concerns Cybercriminals target businesses of all industries and sizes, however, it seems as though their sights are set more on small and medium-sized businesses than large corporations. While there are many factors that may influence the shift of attention to small businesses, one explanation stands out, …
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Email Hack Leads to Valley Hope Association Breach of Patient Data
Valley Hope Association (VHA), a Kansas-based addiction treatment organization with 16 facilities in seven Midwest states has started notifying patients that their information may have been compromised in a data breach. After officials found suspicious activity on an employee’s email account in October, an investigation was launched. VHA hired a forensics team to uncover details …
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Ransomware Is Alive and Well – Here Are 10 Tips to Help Protect Your Organization
Remember ransomware? The malicious software that blocks computer access until a ransom demand is paid? The threat was huge and dominated headlines in the past but seems to have slowed down in recent months. Could the decline in publications citing ransomware as the cause of a data breach or loss of data indicate that …
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5 Tips for Protecting Your Electronic Health Records
As the value of healthcare data remains high, there is no denying that healthcare organizations make prime targets for cybercriminals. To wreak havoc and make a profit from compromised patient data, cybercriminals exploit weak spots in healthcare organizations, whether that be a loophole in the security of the server, poorly trained employees, or a variety …
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