Protenus has released their Breach Barometer report for March. The report is based on 39 incidents that reportedly affected 1,519,521 patients’ records. As noted in recent months, we’ve reached that unhappy stage where we are seeing an average of one or more breach disclosures every day. If this just represented greater transparency, that would be great, but it…
Month: April 2017
Metro Community Provider Network settles HHS breach charges for $400,000 and corrective action plan
HHS announced another settlement today. This one stemmed from a 2011 incident that was previously covered on this site. Once again, the take-home message is that you need to do a risk assessment, and you need a risk management plan commensurate with your risk assessment. In this case, there was no prior risk assessment, and…
ECMC officials remain mute on cause of computer shutdown
Stephen T. Watson reports: Erie County Medical Center officials say a virus that has shut down the hospital’s entire computer network since early Sunday morning has not affected the care delivered to patients or nursing home residents. The hospital has accepted all incoming patients and has moved ahead with all scheduled surgical procedures, said Peter Cutler, an…
UK: Cumbrian patients in NHS fraud text blunder
Inexplicably, the word “bumbling” springs to mind. ITV reports: An NHS scare about a text message scam targeting patients was accidentally sparked by a genuine inquiry from the health service, a spokeswoman has said. NHS England warned members of the public in Cumbria and the North East on Tuesday, about a text which requested personal…
Canadian judge denies bail to alleged Yahoo hacker, Karim Baratov
Rob Gillies reports: A judge denied bail Tuesday to a Canadian man accused in a massive hack of Yahoo emails, arguing he had the means and incentive to flee. Karim Baratov, 22, has alleged ties to Russian agents and access to significant amounts of cash, making him a serious flight risk if freed on bail,…
IDENTITY THEFT SERVICES: Services Offer Some Benefits but Are Limited in Preventing Fraud – GAO
It’s what some of us have been saying for quite a while. From their Highlights of a GAO report released last month: What GAO Found Identity theft services offer some benefits but have limitations. Credit monitoring helps detect new-account fraud (that is, the opening of new unauthorized accounts) by alerting users, but it does not…