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HIPAA violations are on the rise. Although we didn’t hear too much about breach-related HIPAA violations during the pandemic, incidents were occurring, and the violations are now being pursued and published. The result is a steady stream of penalty announcements coming from OCR that should get everyone’s attention. Most recently, MetroHealth System in Ohio announced […]
OCR is making HIPAA changes, are you ready? Earlier today the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a Request For Information to its constituents (that’s us) soliciting feedback for potential changes in two areas. The first area relates to cybersecurity, and the second is regarding the disbursement of civil monetary penalties to harmed individuals. The […]
Critical Update Alert Recently Microsoft and Google released a critical security update to their browsers. Since you likely use these browsers in your environment, you need to ensure that they stay up to date. Below we have included sets of instructions for updating these browsers. Please follow the guides for both browsers and perform these updates […]
You need Windows 11 – NOW Another Intel chip, another iPhone, Galaxy, Chromebook, etc., it seems we’re always being presented with the latest and greatest version of the technology we’re using. While most updated software and devices are feature-packed with nice-to-have additions, the choice to update is often driven by desire, rather than necessity. In […]
What happened to your data in 2021 We haven’t heard much about HIPAA in the past few years while the healthcare industry and regulators grappled with managing and responding to the COVID crisis. But that distraction has proven to be an ideal opportunity for hackers. In healthcare, Protenus released a new study, the 2022 Protenus […]
Email Mistakes It has happened again, and it won’t be the last time. The City of Boston just received their egg-in-the-face award for sending an email to all their recently-tested-positive Covid patients instructing them on the City’s policies regarding quarantine and testing going forward. No harm, no foul, except they included all of the recipients […]
The latest cyber news I’m sorry, I’m just not buying it. If you’ve been anywhere but under a rock lately, then you’ve heard about the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This week we were treated to the news that Russia has launched a cyberwar against Ukraine, and this is a sign that an attack is imminent. First of […]
Russia to the Rescue! I don’t know about you, but it seems we’ve had a Russia obsession for more than a few years now. If Putin’s goal was to live in the heads of our politicians, tormenting their dreams, it sure seems he has succeeded. Not a day goes by that they’re not in the […]
New HIPAA guidance Yesterday, December 20th, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights issued new guidance under the Privacy Rule on disclosures of PHI for Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO). Inevitably, this is going to get twisted and contorted by those on the right and the left, so let’s get to the actual ruling and define […]
New HIPAA guidance Yesterday, December 20th, 2021, the Office for Civil Rights issued new guidance under the Privacy Rule on disclosures of PHI for Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO). Inevitably, this is going to get twisted and contorted by those on the right and the left, so let’s get to the actual ruling and define […]
The simplest of hacks… Imagine being able to hack a server simply by pasting a block of text into a chat window. Well, that’s exactly what happened to the game MineCraft’s servers over the weekend. The newly discovered vulnerability is called Log4Shell and it exploits a previously unknown weakness is a common Java library used […]
Twenty-Five Fines and Counting Since 2019, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the HIPAA enforcement arm of the Department of Health and Human Services, has been enforcing violations of the rights of patients to have timely access to their medical records. Most recently they levied five fines against various organizations for violations of patients’ rights. […]
It’s that time of year, are you ready? Given the cyber-crime epidemic we are experiencing, it stands to reason this holiday season, historically a peak period for cyber crime, will see a considerable spike in scams. Here’s a list of the top scams to expect, and what to do about them. First on our list […]
Traditional trust-based networking is undergoing a massive paradigm shift, affecting you if it hasn’t already. If you think you’re losing your freedoms, no place will that be more evident than in your work environment. This stripping of your computing freedoms is caused by the ransomware and cybercrime epidemic costing US citizens billions of dollars annually. […]
Which Employees Require HIPAA Training? The HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR § 164.530) and the HIPAA Security Rule (45 CFR § 164.308) stipulate training should be provided to all members of the workforce not only the ones that have contact with ePHI or PHI. That means not only employees, but also agency staff, consultants, and […]
The FTC has been warning third-party healthcare applications to tighten up their security, and that they are watching. This follows reports from Ponemon Institute and Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report highlighting the healthcare sector experienced more breaches than any other sector. It also follows the massive 2018 data breach experienced by healthcare application MyFitnessPal that […]