I’m not sure why HHS delayed a few weeks in announcing their settlement with 21st Century Oncology, as some of us reported the $2.3 million settlement earlier this month, but HHS has now issued a press release: Failure to protect the health records of millions of persons costs entity millions of dollars 21st Century Oncology,…
Category: Of Note
Businesses Take Note: Updates to Maryland’s Data Breach Notification Law Take Effect January 1, 2018
James Benjamin, Jr. of Pessin Katz Law, P.A. writes: On January 1, 2018, several amendments to the Maryland Personal Information Protection Act, (“MPIPA”) MD Code Ann., Com. Law §14-3501 et seq. will go into effect. Businesses collecting personal information should take note and be prepared. Under the law as amended, the definition of “personal information”…
In November, I gave thanks for fewer breach reports
Protenus has released its monthly Breach Barometer, and the statistics for November were something to be thankful for – even if they turn out to be just a brief break from the crush of breach reports we’ve seen every month. As Protenus reports, there were 28 incidents first disclosed during November. We were able to…
Romania arrests five suspected members of major ransomware gang
A press release from Europol earlier today: During the last week, Romanian authorities have arrested three individuals who are suspected of infecting computer systems by spreading the CTB-Locker (Curve-Tor-Bitcoin Locker) malware – a form of file-encrypting ransomware. Two other suspects from the same criminal group were arrested in Bucharest in a parallel ransomware investigation linked…
Encryption protected Golden Optometric patients’ EHR from CrySiS attack
It’s nice to read a notification where an entity had good defenses in place. Consider this notification from Golden Optometric in California: Early on the morning of November 6, 2017, the network server at Golden Optometric was infected with a variant of the “CrySiS” ransomware virus, which encrypted a limited number of files on its…
‘Lizard Squad’ hacker admits to conspiracy targeting ‘thousands’
Jon Seidel reports: A Maryland man with ties to international hacking groups with “thousands of victims” pleaded guilty in Chicago Tuesday to a conspiracy that may land him behind bars. But Zachary Buchta could also catch a big break if he continues to cooperate with federal prosecutors, according to his 20-page plea agreement. Buchta, 20,…