In 2017, Dameron Hospital in Texas reported a breach to the California Attorney General’s Office. No copy of its breach notification was uploaded to California’s breach site, and Dameron did not respond to this site’s email asking for details of the breach. The incident never appeared on HHS’s public breach tool, so we never found…
Category: HIPAA
HHS’ Office for Civil Rights Settles HIPAA Security Rule Investigation with Health Fitness Corporation; $227k monetary penalty plus corrective action plan
From HHS’s press release today: Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with Health Fitness Corporation (Health Fitness), located in Illinois, that provides wellness plans to clients across the country, resolving a potential violation under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)…
Security Researcher Comments on HIPAA Security Rule
As long-time readers know, DataBreaches has occasionally run into difficulties when trying to helpfully notify entities of their data leaks or breaches. In other cases, independent researchers have also reported frustration with trying to get entities to respond to responsible disclosures. More often than not, initial attempts at disclosure are ignored or go to spam…
HHS Office for Civil Rights Imposes a $1,500,000 Civil Money Penalty Against Warby Parker in HIPAA Cybersecurity Hacking Investigation
There is a follow-up to a breach previously reported on DataBreaches.net in December 2018. February 20 — Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $1,500,000 civil money penalty against Warby Parker, Inc., a manufacturer and online retailer of prescription and non-prescription eyewear, concerning violations of…
Memorial Hospital and Manor notifies 120,085 people of November ransomware attack
On November 3, 2024, WALB in Georgia reported that Memorial Hospital and Manor had been the victim of a ransomware attack on November 1 that they discovered on November 2. The hospital announced the incident on its Facebook page in a post that is no longer available. But Memorial Hospital and Manor did not appear…
Humboldt Independent Practice Association’s breach notification leaves questions unanswered
On November 11, 2024, Humboldt Independent Practice Association (Humboldt IPA) submitted a breach report to HHS that used a placeholder of 500 for the number of patients affected. All we knew from HHS’s entry was that it was some kind of hacking or IT incident involving protected health information located in email. The California entity’s…