Not only is the data security problematic, but so is the incident response in this case, as Rich Rodriguez reports: A Visalia woman’s personal information is in the hands of a thief. Robin Walker wasn’t hacked, it was stolen from her doctor. She had knee surgery in July. Days before the operation her doctor’s car…
Category: Health Data
UK: Malware attack disrupts hospitals
It appears that a UK hospital has been impacted by a ransomware attack that is disrupting services to patients, although a spokesperson claims this attack is not as severe or widespread as an earlier attack. X News Press reports that NHS Lanarkshire was impacted: “Unfortunately a small number of procedures and appointments have been cancelled as…
Insurer’s mailing to customers made HIV status visible through envelope window
Erin Mershon reports that a mailing error by health insurer Aetna exposed sensitive information: Thousands of people with HIV received mailed letters from Aetna last month that may have disclosed their HIV status on the envelope. The letters, which Aetna said were sent to approximately 12,000 people, were meant to relay a change in pharmacy…
KS: When your incident response creates a second problem….
On August 16, Salina Family Healthcare posted a substitute notice about a ransomware incident: Salina, Kansas – August 16, 2017 – Salina Family Healthcare Center (“SFHC”) has become aware of a data security incident that may have resulted in the disclosure of personal and protected health information of our patients and payment guarantors. Although at…
Hacking dominated health data breaches in July – Protenus
Protenus has released its July Breach Barometer, with data supplied by DataBreaches.net. Here’s a snippet from their report: July is the first month in 2017 to have hacking incidents outweigh insider breaches to patient data in both frequency and number of affected patient records. While hacking accounted for almost half of total breach incidents this…
Why the Russian state ‘weaponised’ stolen medical records of famous footballers
Jason Murdock reports: On Tuesday 22 August, a hacking group released the alleged medical records of 25 football players who had been allowed to use banned medicines during the 2010 World Cup, part of an ongoing series of disclosures centred on stolen therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs). The group claimed that the information was hijacked from…