The sensitive health information maintained by health care providers and health plans has become an increasingly attractive target for cyberattacks. The need for health care organizations to up their game on health data security has never been greater. To help health care organizations covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to bolster…
Patient monitors altered, drug dispensary popped in colossal hospital hack
Scary stuff. Darren Pauli reports: Security researchers have exploited notoriously porous hospital networks to gain access to, and tamper with, critical medical equipment in attacks they say could put lives in danger. In tests, hospital hackers from the Independent Security Evaluators research team popped patient monitors, making them display false readings which could result in…
DHS Report Details “Persistent” Cyber Targeting of Police, Emergency Services
Public Intelligence reports: Cyber attacks against law enforcement, fire departments and other emergency services have become increasingly common and are likely to increase according to a recent intelligence assessment prepared by the Department of Homeland Security and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). The assessment, which was distributed to law enforcement in September…
Congress Looking at Potential Energy-Sector Cybersecurity and Privacy Reform
C. Kyle Simpson and Jared Bomberg write: Energy-sector cybersecurity and privacy is generating significant attention of late. Last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a final rule creating new standards for the cybersecurity of the electric grid. FERC followed this issuance with a report on electrical grid recovery and restoration planning that makes a number of recommendations for…
MO: Former IRS employee sentenced for $326K fraud scheme
AP reports that Demetria Brown, a former IRS employee, has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison in a $326,000 fraudulent tax refund scheme. She has also been ordered to pay restitution to Missouri and the IRS. Brown’s case was previously noted on this blog in June, 2015, when she pleaded guilty. At…
NY: College staffers hacked girls’ laptops to steal nude photos: suit
Kathianne Boniello reports: A Bronx college had its own “Freak Squad” of tech workers who hacked student and employee computers to steal porn and intimate images, according to a lawsuit. Four men in the Academic Computing Center at Hostos Community College admitted breaking into the personal laptops of female students to steal naked pictures and…