Marianne Kolbasuk McGee of HealthInfoSec poses a question about why Change Healthcare’s report to HHS indicated that 500 patients were affected when they already admitted that there were millions. Why use such a low placeholder instead of a higher number when it has been months since they discovered the breach and they must have some…
Category: HIPAA
Insider Threat: Fake Therapist Fooled Hundreds Online Until She Died, State Records Say
In April 2023, Brightside Health, Inc. reported a breach to HHS that affected 767 patients. The incident was coded as “unauthorized access/disclosure” of information located in “EMR, other.” HHS’s closing statement on the public breach tool described the incident this way: The covered entity (CE), Brightside Health, reported that an unauthorized individual accessed the protected…
HHS OCR: Covered entities affected by the Change Healthcare breach may delegate tasks of providing HIPAA breach notifications to Change Healthcare
May 31 – Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) published an update to the frequently asked questions (FAQs) webpage concerning the Change Healthcare cybersecurity incident. The webpage, first published on April 19, 2024, provides answers to FAQs concerning the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)…
United Urology Group appears to be a victim of a ransomware attack; some patient data already leaked
United Urology Group describes itself as a national network of urology specialists with corporate headquarters in Maryland. Their network includes Arizona Urology Specialists Phoenix, Arizona Urology Specialists Tucson, Chesapeake Urology, Colorado Urology, and Tennessee Urology. On May 23, RansomHouse threat actors claimed to have encrypted their system on May 4 and exfiltrated about 300 GB…
100 Groups Urge Feds to Put UHG on Hook for Breach Notices
Marianne Kolbasuk McGee reports: More than 100 medical associations and industry groups representing tens of thousands of U.S. doctors and healthcare professionals have banded together to urge federal regulators to hold Change Healthcare responsible for breach notifications related to a massive February ransomware attack. The groups in a letter Monday asked the U.S. Department of Health and…
Tx: CentroMed discloses a second data breach within one year (UPDATE 1)
In August 2023, El Centro Del Barrio (“CentroMed”) reported a breach that affected 350,000 patients. The incident, which had been claimed by Karakurt threat actors in June, involved patients’ names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, financial account information, health insurance plan member IDs and claims data. A check of Karakurt’s leak site today…