Melissa D. Berry reports: Stealing Medicare beneficiary identification numbers has become the latest goal for cybercriminals who see this data as even more valuable than stolen credit cards. A South Florida man pled guilty in federal court in late-January to “conspiring to buy and sell more than 2.6 million Medicare beneficiary identification numbers” and other…
Category: Health Data
Hacker stole bank account, Social Security numbers, and health plan info of Colorado school district employees
Updated March 15: This incident was reported to HHS on March 3 as affecting 35,068 health plan members, so it likely included former employees as well as current ones. DPS’s notice can be found on their website. Nate Lynn reports: Personal information belonging to some 15,000 Denver Public Schools (DPS) employees was stolen in what…
Another ransomware-related lawsuit settles: Preferred Home Care
Top Class Actions reports there is a settlement involving Preferred Home Care in New York. The lawsuit alleged the provider failed to protect employee and patient data from an attack in January 2021. The data breach allegedly compromised the information of 92,283 patients and employees, including sensitive health information and personal identifiers such as Social…
HHS OCR creates new HIPAA enforcement arm and enhances focus on cybersecurity and privacy oversight
Marcy Wilder, Scott Loughlin, Melissa Bianchi, Paul Otto, and Alyssa Golay of Hogan Lovells write: This week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the agency responsible for HIPAA enforcement, announced the formation of three new divisions within the Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”). The new divisions – Enforcement, Policy, and Strategic Planning –…
Lubbock Heart and Surgical Hospital sued for breach where no one knows for sure whether data was accessed or acquired
If the victim of a cyberattack cannot determine whether data was accessed or acquired, should that increase the damages sought by plaintiffs in a class action suit? Or should it get the suit tossed out because the plaintiffs can’t prove any theft of their data? Kelly Mehorter reports about a class action lawsuit filed against…
HK: Doctor suspended over medical records breach
A doctor has been suspended from clinical duties and reported to the police on suspicion of accessing medical records without their subject’s consent. A spokesman for North District Hospital said in a statement published on Tuesday night that they discovered the breach after a member of staff reported that she suspected her medical records had…