The Federal Trade Commission today announced it has finalized changes to the Health Breach Notification Rule (HBNR) that will strengthen and modernize the rule by clarifying its applicability to health apps and other similar technologies and expanding the information that covered entities must provide to consumers when notifying them of a breach of their health…
Category: Of Note
Wealthy Taxpayers Alerted to Leaked Data Years After IRS Breach
Erin Schilling reports: Some taxpayers are learning that their data was leaked in the widespread breach by a former IRS contractor that led to the release of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns. Four tax lawyers said they have seen letters from the IRS that went to clients this week and last week notifying them…
UnitedHealth paid ransom to bad actors, says patient data was compromised in Change Healthcare cyberattack (1)
Ashley Capoot reports: UnitedHealth Group on Monday said it paid ransom to cyberthreat actors to try and protect patient data, following the February cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare. The company also confirmed that files containing personal information were compromised in the breach. “This attack was conducted by malicious threat actors, and we continue to…
International investigation disrupts phishing-as-a-service platform LabHost – EUROPOL
This week, law enforcement from 19 countries severely disrupted one of the world’s largest phishing-as-a-service platform, known as LabHost. This year-long operation, coordinated at the international level by Europol, resulted in the compromise of LabHost’s infrastructure. Between Sunday 14 April and Wednesday 17 April a total of 70 addresses were searched across the world, resulting…
Cybersecurity firm suspects Russia-linked hacking group behind cyberattack on Texas water facility
Tom Olson reports: A hacking group with ties to the Russian government is suspected of carrying out a cyberattack in January that caused a tank at a Texas water facility to overflow, experts from US cybersecurity firm Mandiant said Wednesday. The attack took place in Muleshoe, Texas, and coincided with other towns in north Texas…
Lawsuits mount and cyberattack could cost UnitedHealth Group up to $1.6B this year
Christopher Snowbeck of the Star Tribune in Minnesota is doing some great reporting on the Change Healthcare UnitedHealth Group cyberattack. Yesterday, he did a write-up on a Minneapolis therapy clinic suing Change Healthcare. He reports, in part: Twin Cities Counseling says it hasn’t been able to submit payment claims for more than 100 appointments —…