Small and Medium Sized Healthcare Organizations Targeted by Ransomware Gangs
Ransomware gangs stepped up their attacks on healthcare organizations in 2020 with some ransomware operations [...]
Articles by HIPAA guide
Georgia Man Jailed for Attempting to Frame Nurse for Fake HIPAA Violations
This month, a U.S District Court judge for the Southern District of Georgia has sentenced a man for making [...]
HHS Announces Limited Waiver of HIPAA Fines and Sanctions in in Texas Due to Winter Storm
Norris Cochran, the Acting Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has declared a public [...]
Amsterdam Hospital Fined €440,000 for Failing to Implement 2FA and Insufficient Checks of Access Logs
OLVG hospital Amsterdam has been fined €440,000 by the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) – [...]
OCR Announces $70,000 Settlement with Sharpe Healthcare to Resolve HIPAA Right of Access Case
Sharpe Healthcare has agreed to settle a HIPAA violation case with the Department of Health and Human [...]
Florida Health Insurer Discovers Breach of the PHI of 3.5 Million Individuals
One of the largest ever healthcare data breaches has recently been reported by the Florida-based health [...]
OCR Announces Fifteenth Settlement Under its HIPAA Right of Access Enforcement Initiative
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has agreed to settle a HIPAA Right of Access enforcement action [...]
FTC Finalizes Settlement with SkyMed International to Resolve Allegations of Security and Data Breach Response Failures
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced the settlement with SkyMed International has been finalized [...]
GDPR Financial Penalties 39% Higher Than Total for the Previous 20 Months
The number of financial penalties imposed to resolve violations of the General Data Protection Regulation [...]
Grindr Fined €9.6 Million for Data Sharing GDPR Violation
Grindr, the world’s largest dating and social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people, has been [...]
HIPAA Enforcement Discretion for Good Faith Use of Online or Web-based Scheduling Applications for COVID-19 Vaccination Appointments
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Health and Human Services has announced it will be [...]
$4.3 Million HIPAA Penalty for MD Anderson Cancer Center Vacated by Court of Appeals
The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Louisiana has vacated the civil monetary penalties imposed on the [...]
Excellus Health Plan Hit with $5.1 Million Penalty for 10 Million-Record Data Breach
Excellus Health Plan has settled a HIPAA violation case with the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights and has [...]
HHS Announces Largest Ever Financial Penalty for HIPAA Right of Access Failure
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued its largest ever HIPAA fine for noncompliance [...]
Safe Harbor Introduced for Covered Entities That Adopt Recognized Cybersecurity Best Practices
HIPAA covered entities and their business associates have been provided with a degree of protection against [...]
GDPR Violation Penalties in 2020 Totaled €171.3 Million
The online financial news and analysis portal Finbold has published a report detailing the GDPR violation [...]
NIST Releases Final Guidance on Securing the Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS)
The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology [...]
OCR Announces 13th HIPAA Right of Access Settlement
In 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights announced a new HIPAA [...]
OCR Confirms Allowable Disclosures of ePHI to Health Information Exchanges for Public Health Purposes
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights has issued new guidance to help HIPAA covered entities and their business [...]
2016/2017 HIPAA Compliance Audit Findings Published by HHS’ Office for Civil Rights
The long-awaited report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights on the [...]
Dental Care Alliance Cyberattack Impacts More Than 1 Million Patients
The protected health information of more than a million dental patients has potentially been obtained by [...]
More Than 45 Million Medical Images Containing PHI Stored on Unprotected Servers
A study conducted by the cybersecurity firm CyberAngel has revealed more than 45 million medical images are [...]
Twitter Fined €450,000 For GDPR Breach Notification Failure
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has concluded its GDPR investigation into Twitter and has [...]
Vodafone Italy Slapped with €12.25 Million GDPR Fine
Vodafone Italy has received a €12.25 million GDPR financial penalty from the Italian Data Protection [...]
HIPAA Privacy Rule Updates Proposed by HHS
They have been a long time coming, but the Department of Health and Human Services has finally revealed a [...]
Carrefour Fined €3 Million by French DPA for Multiple GDPR Violations
Carrefour has received a €3.25 million GDPR violation penalty from the French data protection authority, [...]
EU Proposes Data Governance Act – A GDPR Framework for Industrial and Government Data
The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gave EU citizens new rights over their personal data. It has [...]
OCR Fines University of Cincinnati Medical Center $65,000 for Failure to Provide Patient’s Medical Records
The University of Cincinnati Medical Center (UCMC) has been fined $65,000 by the HHS’ Office for Civil [...]
OCR Announces 11th Financial Penalty under HIPAA Right of Access Enforcement Initiative
A Regal Park, NY-based private otolaryngology practitioner has been issued with a $15,000 financial penalty [...]
10th Financial Penalty Announced Under OCR’s HIPAA Right of Access Enforcement Initiative
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights has made good on its promise to step up enforcement of compliance with the [...]
ShopRite Data Breach Results in $235,000 HIPAA Penalty for Wakefern Food Corporation
New Jersey Attorney General General Gurbir S. Grewal and the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs have [...]
City of New Haven Settles HIPAA Violation Case with OCR for $202K
The City of New Haven in Connecticut has settled a HIPAA violation case with the U.S. Department of Health [...]
Marriot International Slapped with £18.4 Million GDPR Fine for Data Breach
In July 2019, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced its intention to fine Marriott [...]
Aetna Pays $1,000,000 Penalty to Resolve Multiple Violations of the HIPAA Rules
The health plan Aetna, part of the Aetna Life Insurance Company, has agreed to pay a $1 million penalty to [...]
British Airways £184 Million GDPR Fine Reduced to £20 Million
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced that the General Data Protection [...]
$100,000 Financial Penalty Imposed on NY Spine for HIPAA Right of Access Failure
In 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights launched its HIPAA Right [...]
Community Health Systems Settles Data Breach Case with 28 State Attorneys General for $5 Million
Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III has announced a $5 million settlement has been reached with [...]
OCR Issues 8th HIPAA Penalty Under HIPAA Right of Access Enforcement Initiative
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has imposed its 8th HIPAA penalty on a [...]
H&M Slapped with €35.2 Million GDPR Fine for Excessive Use of Employee Data
H&M, the second largest fashion retailer in the world, has been fined €35,258,707.95 ($41.2 million) [...]
Anthem Settles Multi-State Action with State Attorneys General Over 2014 Data Breach
A multi-state investigation by attorneys general in 42 states and Washington D.C. over the 78.8 million [...]
Premera Blue Cross to Pay $6.8 Million OCR HIPAA Fine for 2014 Data Breach
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has imposed its second largest ever HIPAA violation penalty – [...]
$2.3 Million HIPAA Penalty for Business Associate for 6 Million-Record Data Breach
The Community Health Systems business associate, CHSPSC LLC, has settled its HIPAA violation case with the [...]
Athens Orthopedic Clinic Agrees to Pay $1.5 Million to Settle OCR HIPAA Violation Case
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has settled another HIPAA [...]
Gartner Predicts 65% of Countries will have Data Privacy Legislation by 2023
The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has now been in effect for more than 2 years and while this [...]
OCR Settles 5 More HIPAA Right of Access Cases
In 2019, the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights launched an enforcement initiative targeting organizations that [...]
Irish DPC Orders Facebook to Stop Transfers of EU Citizens’ Data to the US
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has issued a preliminary order calling for Facebook to cease [...]
Americans Largely Unaware of Extent that Health Insurers Access their Online Data
A recent MITRE-Harris poll has revealed most Americans are unaware of the extent to which health insurers are [...]
September is National Insider Threat Awareness Month
September is National Insider Threat Awareness Month – A month dedicated to raising awareness of the [...]
OCR Updates mHealth Portal Adding New Resources for HIPAA Health App Developers
In certain circumstances, the developers of mobile health apps are classed as business associates and are [...]
Malicious Activity Detection and Mitigation Guidance Published by CISA
The HIPAA Security Rule requires covered entities and their business associates to implement safeguards to [...]
Before You Can Safeguard PHI, You Must Know Where it is Located
HIPAA-covered entities and their business associates are required to implement safeguards to ensure the [...]
Health Plans Added to June 2020 OCR Plasma Donation Guidance
In June 2020, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance explaining how HIPAA [...]
Medical Data Being Exposed via Public GitHub Repositories
Research recently published in a collaborative report by security researcher Jelle Ursem and DataBreaches.net [...]
Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Oracle and Salesforce are Violating the GDPR
A class action lawsuit has been filed in Amsterdam by the consumer privacy organization, The Privacy [...]
House of Representatives Votes to Remove Ban on HHS Funding National Patient Identifier System
For the second successive year, the U.S House of Representatives has voted to remove the ban on the [...]
OCR Issues Warning About Misleading Postcards Sent to Compliance Officers About HIPAA Security Risk Assessments
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has issued an alert about a potential [...]
Lifespan Health System Slapped with $1 Million Fine for Noncompliance with the HIPAA Rules
For the second time in a week, the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced a fine has been imposed [...]
HHS Reviews COVID-19 Situation and Extends Public Health Emergency for Further 90 Days
On January 31, 2020, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services declared the outbreaks of [...]
$25,000 Penalty for Small Healthcare Provider for HIPAA Security Rule Failures
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has agreed to settle a HIPAA [...]
914,000 Patients Impacted by Hacking of Florida Orthopedic Institute and Benefit Recovery Specialists
The protected health information of 914,000 patients has potentially been compromised in two hacking [...]
HHS Makes Changes to 42 CFR Part Substance Use Disorder Privacy Provisions
The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) has [...]
At Least 365K Patients Impacted by Magellan Health Ransomware Attack
In April 2020, the Fortune 500 firm Magellan Health experienced a ransomware attack that resulted in [...]
Is Google Voice HIPAA Compliant?
Can healthcare providers and their employees utilize Google Voice? Is this telephony service HIPAA compliant? [...]
GDPR Evaluation Report Hails GDPR a Success, But More Work Required
The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, has published its first GDPR evaluation [...]
Telehealth Policy Changes Could Become Permanent When COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Ends
If there is one good thing to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic it is the changes that have been made to [...]
Reports of COVID-19 Diagnoses by Media Suggest Violations of HIPAA
When famous people are diagnosed with an illness or suffer an accident, that can be headline news. The Health [...]
Episcopal Health Services Data Breach Lawsuit Sent Back to State Court for Further Proceedings
A lawsuit filed against Episcopal Health Services following a phishing attack that exposed the protected [...]
Hungarian Data Protection Authority Issues Record-Breaking GDPR Fine
The Hungarian Data Protection Authority (NAIH) has imposed a record-breaking financial penalty under the [...]
Hungary Suspends Data Subjects’ Rights Under GDPR During COVID-19 Pandemic
The government in Hungary has taken the controversial decision to suspend the rights of data subjects under [...]
OCR Issues Guidance on Contacting Former COVID-19 Patients About Blood and Plasma Donations
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has issued new HIPAA guidance to clear [...]
Guidance Issued by HSCC and H-ISAC on Managing the Cybersecurity Tactical Response During a Pandemic
Joint guidance on managing the cybersecurity tactical response has recently been published by the Healthcare [...]
PHI of 170,000 Patients Potentially Compromised in Recent Phishing Attacks
Monthly breach reports show that email is the most common location of breached protected health information. [...]
FTC Seeks Feedback on the Health Data Breach Notification Rule
The Federal Trade Commission is seeking feedback from healthcare industry stakeholders about its breach [...]
Dutch DPA Issues €750,000 GDPR Fine for Improper Use of Biometric Data
The Data Protection Authority in the Netherlands has imposed a financial penalty of €725,000 ($791,000) on [...]
CISA and NCSC Issue Joint Cybersecurity Alert About Ongoing Cyberattacks on Healthcare Organizations
Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups are continuing to exploit the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic and are [...]
Film Crews Not Permitted in Hospitals Unless HIPAA Authorizations are Obtained from Patients, Warns OCR
Hospitals have been warned that they must not allow film crews into parts of hospitals where there is [...]
HHS Delays Enforcement of Information Sharing and Interoperability Rules
The new interoperability and data sharing rules that were announced by the HHS on March 9, 2020 were due to [...]
HHS Issues Notice of Enforcement Discretion for COVID-19 Community-Based Testing Sites
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued a Notice of [...]
Brave Software Inc. Files Complaint Over Alleged Google GDPR Violation
Brave Software Inc., developer of the Brave web browser, has filed a GDPR compliant with the Irish Data [...]
FBI Warns About COVID-19 Cyberattacks and Healthcare Providers Targeted by Individuals Posing as OCR Investigators
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a fresh warning about the use of the 2019 Novel [...]
OCR Announces Enforcement Discretion for Business Associate Uses and Disclosure of PHI
On April 2, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued another [...]
COVID-19 and HIPAA Guidance on Disclosures of PHI to First Responders
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights has issued guidance on COVID-19 and HIPAA about the permitted disclosures [...]
OCR Issues Guidance on Telehealth Services During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
Last week, the Trump Administration extended Medicare telehealth services as the COVID-19 crisis deepened. [...]
2019 Novel Coronavirus and HIPAA Compliance
Important information on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus and HIPAA compliance, the limited HIPAA waiver announced [...]
Google Fined $8 Million by Swedish Data Protection Authority
The Swedish Data Protection Authority has announced it has imposed a SEK 75 million fine on Google for right [...]
HHS Publishes Final Interoperability, Information Blocking, and Data Sharing Rules
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released its final interoperability, information [...]
Medical Devices Affected by SweynTooth Vulnerabilities, Warns FDA, CISA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity [...]
$100,000 HIPAA Fine Imposed on Physician Practice for Security Rule Violations
A $100,000 HIPAA fine has been imposed on a solo physician practice for HIPAA Security Rule failures [...]
Analysis of 2019 Healthcare Data Breaches
A recent analysis of 2019 healthcare data breaches by Protenus has confirmed that 2019 was a particularly bad [...]
Widespread E1 Transactions Violations Discovered by HHS’ Office of Inspector General
A recent audit of a mail-order pharmacy and 29 other healthcare provides by the Department of Health and [...]
HIPAA Email Retention Policy
While email retention is not specifically mentioned in the HIPAA text, certain provisions cover data [...]
HHS Modifies Pharmacy HIPAA Transaction Requirements for Partially Filled Schedule II Drug Prescriptions
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a final rule modifying the pharmacy HIPAA [...]
Irish DPC Launches GDPR Compliance Investigations into Google and Tinder
The Data Protection Commission in Ireland, the country’s lead GDPR regulator, has launched investigations [...]
Fee Limitations on Requests to Send Patient Records to Third Parties Lifted
Following a ruling in a federal court that went against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the [...]
HIPAA Subpoena for Medical Records: What You Need to Know
A HIPAA subpoena for medical records is an area where there is considerable potential for a HIPAA violation. [...]
HIPAA Compliant Website Requirements
What are the requirements for a HIPAA compliant website? Here we list the important elements when setting up [...]
Immediately Patch Windows Vulnerabilities Warns DHS and OCR
On January 14, 2020 Microsoft issued patches to correct critical vulnerabilities in Windows and Windows [...]
What is the HIPAA “Minimum Necessary” Standard?
The HIPAA “Minimum Necessary” standard is an important provision of HIPAA and one that all healthcare [...]
London Pharmacy Hit With £275,000 GDPR Penalty
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s GDPR data protection authority, has issued its [...]
HIPAA Compliance Failures Result in $65,000 Fine for Georgia Ambulance Company
West Georgia Ambulance, Inc., an ambulance company serving Carroll County in Georgia, has agreed to settle a [...]
Is Office 365 HIPAA Compliant?
Is Office 365 HIPAA compliant? Can healthcare organizations use Office 365 in connection with protected [...]
OCR Issues Second Fine for Noncompliance with HIPAA Right of Access
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has announced another settlement has [...]
How Does DNS Filtering Work?
In this post we answer some commonly asked questions about content filtering, such as what is DNS filtering?, [...]
New Federal Privacy and Data Protection Legislation Introduced
Currently there is no federal privacy and data protection law in the United States, only a patchwork of [...]
German Telecoms Company Gets $10.6 Million Fine for Noncompliance with GDPR
The German data protection authority has imposed one of the largest ever GDPR fines on a telecommunications [...]
Is Google Forms HIPAA Compliant?
Google Forms is a survey administration tool that allows forms to be created for data collection purposes, [...]
Breach Notification Rule Failure Leads to $2.175 Million HIPAA Settlement
A breach notification failure and the lack of a business associate agreement has led to a $2.175 million [...]
20 Common HIPAA Myths Debunked
In this post we cover some of the many HIPAA myths that have been circulating on the internet and often get [...]
German Real Estate Company Issued with €14.5 Million GDPR Fine for Unlawful Data Retention
A German real estate company, Deutsche Wohnen SE, has been issued with a €14.5 million GDPR penalty by the [...]
OCR Makes Inflation Adjustment to HIPAA Civil Monetary Penalties
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR), Department of Health and Human [...]
OCR Imposes $1.6 Million Civil Monetary Penalty on Texas Health and Human Services Commission for HIPAA Violations
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has fined another HIPAA-covered [...]
Failure to Encrypt ePHI on Portable Devices Results in $3 Million Financial Penalty
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced its sixth HIPAA penalty of 2019. The University of [...]
Updated Security Risk Assessment Tool Released to Help Covered Entities with HIPAA Security Rule Compliance
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has released an updated version [...]
Study Suggests Security Enhancements After a Hospital Data Breach Negatively Affects Patient Outcomes
Following a data breach, hospitals implement additional measures to improve their security posture and make [...]
9 Unsecured Medical Databases Found Containing Millions of Patient Records
Security researchers at Wizecase have discovered 9 medical databases containing millions of patient records [...]
Jackson Health System Pays $2.15 Million Penalty for Widespread Noncompliance with HIPAA Rules
Jackson Health System (JHS) has paid a $2.15 million civil monetary penalty to the HHS’ Office for Civil [...]
HIPAA Training Requirements
What are the HIPAA Training Requirements? HIPAA applies to all types of Covered Entities (CEs) – [...]
More Financial Penalties for HIPAA Right of Access Compliance Failures Expected
At the OCR/NIST HIPAA Security Conference in Washington D.C., the Director of the Department of Health and [...]
Dental Practice Gets $10,000 HIPAA Penalty for PHI Disclosures on Social Media
A dental practice has been fined $10,000 by the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights for violating Health Insurance [...]
Poland Issues €645,000 GDPR Penalty for Lack of Organizational and Technical Safeguards
Poland’s Personal Data Protection Office has issued a PLN 2.8 million (€645,000) GDPR penalty to an [...]
HIPAA Right of Access Failure Attracts $85,000 Financial Penalty
The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights has announced the first HIPAA settlement under its HIPAA Right of Access [...]
Senate Stalls on Lifting of Ban on Funding National Patient Identifier System
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 called for the Department of Health and Human [...]
400 Million Medical Images Found to Be Freely Accessible Over the Internet
A recent investigation by ProPublica, Greenbone Networks, and the German public broadcaster Bayerischer [...]
Guidance Issued on Securing Picture Archiving and Communications Systems
New guidance has been released by the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) on securing picture [...]
Complaint Submitted to Irish DPC over Alleged Google GDPR Workaround
Google is alleged to have been using a ‘GDPR workaround’ to avoid the restrictions on data sharing [...]
Guidance on Securing Corporate-Owned Personally Enabled Devices in Healthcare
and transmit patient information. They ensure healthcare professionals are always contactable and can quickly [...]
HHS Proposes Changes to Ease Restrictions on Part 2 Substance Abuse Disorder Treatment Records
A new rule has been proposed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) that [...]
HHS Issues Guidance on Managing Malicious Insider Threats
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has issued guidance for HIPAA-covered [...]
Summary of July 2019 Healthcare Data Breaches
It has been another terrible month for healthcare data breaches – The worst of the year to date in terms of [...]
Third of Healthcare Employees Have Received No Cybersecurity Training
A new Kaspersky Lab study has shed light on why healthcare organizations are so susceptible to data breaches. [...]
Sweden Issues First GDPR Fine to School Over Use of Facial Recognition Technology to Monitor Attendance
Swedish high school has been fined €19,000 for violations of the EU Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) [...]
51% of Healthcare Providers Are Not Fully Compliant with HIPAA Right of Access
Healthcare providers are providing patients with copies of their medical records, but a majority have been [...]
$74 Million Premera Blue Cross Settlement Gets Preliminary Approval
A consolidated class action lawsuit against Premera Blue Cross over its 2014 data breach of 10.6 million [...]
$145 Settlement Proposed by Allscripts to Resolve HIPAA and Anti-Kickback Case
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions has proposed a settlement of $145 million to resolve alleged violations of [...]
National Association of Attorneys General Urges Congress to Align Part 2 with HIPAA
The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) has written to Congress demanding changes be made to [...]
AMCA Breach Victim Count Nears $24 Million
Over the past 10 days, several more healthcare providers have announced that they have been affected by the [...]
Premera Blue Cross Settles HIPAA Case for $10 Million
Premera Blue Cross has agreed to settle its HIPAA violation lawsuit and pay a $10 million penalty to resolve [...]
31% of EU Citizens Have Not Heard of GDPR
May 25, 2019 was the first anniversary of the compliance date of the EU’s General Data Protection [...]
British Airways Handed Record £183 Million GDPR Penalty
The UK GDPR supervisory authority has issued the largest ever GDPR financial penalty to date. British Airways [...]
OCR Publishes New HIPAA FAQ for Health Plans on Care Coordination and Continuity of Care PHI Disclosures
New HIPAA guidance for health plans has been published by the Department of Health and Human Services’ [...]
Unauthorized Medical Record Access and Disclosure Results in 1 Year Jail Term
The penalties for HIPAA violations are usually restricted to fines for the covered entity or business [...]
Almost 2 Million Records Exposed in May 2019 Healthcare Data Breaches
It has been another bad month for the U.S. healthcare industry. Rather than April’s record number of [...]
AMCA Files for Bankruptcy Following Massive Data Breach
After 42 years in business, the parent company of American Medical Collections Agency (AMCA) has sought [...]
Businesses Risk GDPR Fines Over Continued Use of Unencrypted USB Devices
Under GDPR, businesses must ensure that any personal data of EU residents that is collected or processed is [...]
More Than 20 Million Individuals Impacted by AMCA Data Breach
The number of individuals affected by the data breach at American Medical Collections Agency (AMCA) continues [...]
PHI of 11.9 Million Quest Diagnostics Patients Compromised in AMCA Data Breach
Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest medical laboratory chains in the United States, has announced that [...]
EHR Provider to Pay $900,000 to Resolve Multi-State HIPAA Case
Just a few days after the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights announced a settlement had been reached with Medical [...]
HHS Confirms When Business Associates Can be Held Directly Liable for HIPAA Violations
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, and the subsequent [...]
Medical Informatics Engineering Issued with $100,000 HIPAA Violation Penalty
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights has announced a settlement has been [...]
April 2019 Was the Worst Ever Month for Healthcare Data Breaches
April was a record-breaking month for healthcare data breaches. More data breaches were reported by [...]
Large GDPR Fines for Noncompliance Expected in 2019
It has almost been a full year since compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has [...]
High Severity Wormable Windows Vulnerability Patched by Microsoft
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has reported a critical vulnerability to Microsoft which could [...]
Multiple HIPAA Violations at Medical Imaging Services Company Result in $3 Million Penalty
Touchstone Medical Imaging, a Franklin, Tennessee-based provider of medical imaging services, has agreed to [...]
OCR Issues New Advice on HIPAA and Software Applications Used by Patients to Access PHI
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has issued new advice on HIPAA [...]
HHS Changes Maximum Penalties for HIPAA Violations
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has made changes to the maximum penalties for HIPAA [...]
CMS Starts HIPAA Simplification Rules Audits
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Division of National Standards has recently announced [...]
Study Reveals Widespread Nonconformance with HIPAA Rules and NIST CSF Controls
It has been 14 years since the HIPAA Security Rule requirements have been mandatory, but many healthcare [...]
Deadline Extended for Comments on HHS Health IT and ePHI Interoperability Rules
New rules were published by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator [...]
912,992 Records Exposed in Healthcare Data Breaches in March 2019
February was a particularly bad month for healthcare data breaches, so it is no surprise there was a fall in [...]
GDPR Compliance Has Helped to Reduce Data Breaches in the UK
The UK government has released the results of its annual cybersecurity breach survey which shows a fall in [...]
G2 Crowd Releases Spring 2019 Secure Email Gateway Performance Report
G2 Crowd has released its Spring 2019 G2 Crowd Secure Email Gateway Performance Report. The report highlights [...]
PHI of 12,000 Baystate Health Patients Exposed Due to Phishing Attack
A phishing attack on Baystate Health in Massachusetts has exposed the protected health information (PHI) of [...]
Improving Healthcare Organizations Cybersecurity Through Cross-sector and Bi-partisan Collaboration
On February 21, 2019, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va) requested feedback from a number of healthcare organizations [...]
1,600 Ohio Patients Impacted by Impermissible Disclosures of PHI
993 Ohio residents who are beneficiaries of Medicaid or have received services from the Ohio Department of [...]
PHI Compromised Due to Emotet Malware Attack on Oregon Endodontic Group and Humana Web Portal Breach
An office computer used by Oregon Endodontic Group has been infected with malware, which may have allowed [...]
New HIPAA-Compliant Alexa Skills Announced
Amazon has announced six new HIPAA compliant Alexa skills have been developed and that the platform can [...]
PHI of 14,305 Patients Exposed Due to a Phishing Attack on Main Line Endoscopy Centers
Main Line Endoscopy Centers, a network of outpatient endoscopy clinics in the Malvern, Media and Bala Cynwyd [...]
Sharp Grossmont Hospital Faces Lawsuit For Video Recording Patients During Gynecology Procedures
Sharp HealthCare and Sharp Grossmont Hospital have been accused of covertly recording videos in an area of [...]
Alert on Advanced Persistent Threats and Zero-Day Exploits Issued by OCR
In its spring cybersecurity newsletter, the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights has warned healthcare [...]
Health Data is the Least Likely Type of Data to Use Encryption
The Ponemon Institute conducted a survey for the Global Encryption Trends Study on behalf of nCipher, a [...]
National Board of Examiners in Optometry to Pay $3.25 Million to Settle 2016 Data Breach Lawsuit
A class action lawsuit that was filed on behalf of victims of a 2016 data breach at the National Board of [...]
Michigan Practice to Close Down Due to Ransomware Attack
A ransomware attack on Brookside ENT and Hearing Center located in Battle Creek prompted the Michigan [...]
Amazon Developed a New System for the De-identification of Medical Images
Amazon recently announced a new system has been launched which can identify the protected health information [...]
Security Breaches Reported by DePaul and Southern Hills Eye Care
DePaul is informing a number of its behavioral health program patients about the exposure of their protected [...]
PHI of 67,493 Burrell Behavioral Health Patients Exposed Due to Business Associate Breach
Burrell Behavioral Health is informing 67,493 patients about the accidental exposure of their healthcare [...]
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against UnityPoint Health for February 2018 Data Breach
A class action lawsuit has been filed against UnityPoint Health over a data breach that exposed 16,429 [...]
Harvard Business Review Shares Lessons from the Massive Marriott Data Breach
A Harvard Business Review report has been released on the most recent massive data privacy breach involving a [...]
Microsoft CEO Supports Global Enactment of GDPR-Like Legislation
In a recent interview at World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke about [...]
Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services To Pay $1.6 Million Settlement Over 2015 Data Breach
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights and the Texas Department of Aging and [...]
Healthcare Industry Ranks 8th for Cybersecurity But Must Improve DNS Health and Endpoint Security
By means of complying with HIPAA, healthcare providers have attained a baseline standard of security. [...]
PHI Exposure of Superior Dental Care Patients and L.A. Care Health Plan Members
The dental insurance provider, Superior Dental Care, based in Centerville, Ohio, has discovered an [...]
Concerns Expressed about FDA Medical Device Security Guidance
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is assessing the responses to its draft guidance for medical [...]
Stricter Breach Notification Laws Proposed by D.C. Attorney General
Washington D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine wants to reinforce data breach notification regulations to [...]
UCLA Health to Pay $7.5 Million to Settle Class Action Data Breach Lawsuit
UCLA Health has agreed to pay a $7.5 million settlement to resolve a class action lawsuit that was filed on [...]
PHI of 14,894 Patients Impacted by Third Verity Health System Phishing Attack in 3 Months
Verity Health system encountered its third phishing attack in January 2019 in three months, which impacted [...]
Should Dental Offices Worry About HIPAA Compliance?
The first dentist that was issued a fine for a HIPAA violation was Dr. Joseph Beck in 2015. His case served [...]
Vulnerabilities Discovered in Medtronic CareLink Monitors, ICDs and Programmers
Two vulnerabilities have been found in the Conexus telemetry protocol, which is used in Medtronic MyCarelink [...]
Dental Offices May Be Fined for Slow Release of Copies of Dental Records
The Dental Board of California revealed in a recent report that some dentists in the state are not giving [...]
Email Archiving Solution Exposed PHI of 277,319 Patients
ZOLL Medical Corporation, a medical device manufacturer and software developer in Pennsylvania, is informing [...]
When Was HIPAA Enacted?
When did compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) become mandatory and [...]
Are Google Home and Google Assistant Compliant With HIPAA?
Can medical practitioners use Google Home and Google Assistant? Is Google Assistant HIPAA compliant or would [...]
Is DocuSign HIPAA Compliant?
Can healthcare organizations use DocuSign in association with electronic protected health information (ePHI) [...]
Healthcare Data Breach Report in February 2019
February 2019 saw healthcare data breaches reported at a ate of more than one a day, as was the case in [...]
Is Microsoft Teams HIPAA Compliant?
Microsoft Teams is popular among businesses who use it to improve communication and collaboration, but can it [...]
Is Calendly HIPAA Compliant?
Calendly is a well-known tool that many businesses use for scheduling meetings and appointments. Is it all [...]
Is Evernote HIPAA Compliant?
Evernote is a useful cloud-based tool for taking notes, making to do lists, planning projects, and [...]
Is Google Keep HIPAA Compliant?
Google Keep is a cloud-based note taking application that allows notes to be created and shared across [...]
Sandboxing and DMARC Authentication Integrated into SpamTitan To Detect More Email Threats
Healthcare organizations are increasing investment in cybersecurity solutions to combat the threat from [...]
Healthcare Laptops are a Serious Security Risk
Clearwater CyberIntelligence Institute (CCI) has analyzed security risks in healthcare and found that laptops [...]
Study Confirms Healthcare Employees are Susceptible to Phishing Attacks
Cybercriminals are targeting the healthcare industry and one of the leading ways that access to healthcare [...]
HIPAA Violation Fines
Both the Department of Health and Human Service’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and state attorneys general [...]
70,000 People Impacted By Three Healthcare Ransomware Attacks
Three new ransomware attacks have recently been reported by healthcare companies and their business [...]
25% of Healthcare Companies Had a Mobile Security Breach Last Year
The Verizon Mobile Security Index 2019 report shows 25% of healthcare companies have had a security breach [...]
Over 5000 People Impacted by Two Breaches Due to Laptop Theft and Mailing Error
A Massachusetts business associate has reported a breach of the electronic protected health information [...]
Biometric Information Privacy Act Proposed by Florida Lawmakers
New bills (SB 1270 /HB 1153) have been proposed by Senator Gary Farmer (D-FL) and Representative Bobby DuBose [...]
Is Return Path HIPAA Compliant?
Return Path is an email marketing and optimization program that helps companies to put their email marketing [...]
HIPAA Compliance in Conflict with Healthcare Cybersecurity
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) has told Congress that HIPAA compliance [...]
New HIPAA Regulations in 2019
Though there were HIPAA updates being considered by OCR in 2018, the pace of change is slow and it could well [...]
Is Mandrill HIPAA Compliant?
Does Mandrill support HIPAA compliance? Can healthcare organizations use MailChimp’s transactional email [...]
Dozens of Employees Fired for Snooping on Jussie Smollett’s Medical Records
Dozen of healthcare employees at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago have been terminated for snooping [...]
7,858 Patients’ PHI Potentially Exposed Due to Covenant Care Email Account Breach
Covenant Care in Aliso Viejo, CA, a network of residential care and skilled nursing facilities, found that an [...]
Is Marketo HIPAA Compliant?
Marketo is an email marketing and lead management platform that has now been acquired by Adobe. Can [...]
New Jersey Assembly Approves Expanded Definition of Personal Information Requiring Breach Notifications
The New Jersey Assembly unanimously approved a bill that broadens the types of personal data that call for [...]
Former Patient Care Coordinator Pleads Guilty to Wrongfully Disclosing PHI with Intent to Cause Harm
Ms. Linda Sue Kalina, 61, of Butler, PA, a former employee of Tri Rivers Musculoskeletal (TRM) and Allegheny [...]
Is SparkPost HIPAA Compliant?
SparkPost is a well-known email delivery and analytics program used by a lot of businesses for communicating [...]
IRS Warns About Tax-Related Phishing Scams
The IRS has launched its 2019 ‘Dirty Dozen’ campaign, which cautions taxpayers about the 12 most commonly [...]
Is JotForm HIPAA Compliant?
JotForm is a software solution that can be used for making online forms. Can healthcare organizations use [...]
Nevada Senator Introduces New Data Privacy Act
Nevada Senator Catherine Cortex Masto, (D-NV) recently proposed a bill called the Data Privacy Act, which [...]
St. Francis Physicians Services Notifies Patients of Milestone Family Medicine Data Breach
Bon Secours St. Francis Health System is informing patients that some of their protected health information [...]
Is Constant Contact HIPAA Compliant?
Constant Contact offers an online and email marketing solution which allow businesses to easily keep in touch [...]
HIPAA-Compliant SFTP Server Requirements
If healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and business associates of HIPAA-covered [...]
Senator Seeks Answers on Healthcare Cybersecurity from Government Agencies and Healthcare Orgaizations
Senator Mark Warner (D-Va) has written letters to the leaders of the Department of Health and Human Services [...]
Healthcare Associations Request Safe Harbor for Entities That Have Followed Cybersecurity Best Practices
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), the Association for Executives in [...]
Third-Party Apps’ Health Data Sharing With Facebook Investigated
An analysis of the data collection practices of Facebook by the Wall Street Journal recently revealed [...]
Is MailChimp HIPAA Compliant?
MailChimp is an automated email marketing program used for sending marketing newsletters and emails to [...]
NHS Announces Pagers will be Phased Out by the End of 2021
The Department of Health in the United Kingdom has commissioned a report on the costs of pagers and their use [...]
What is a HIPAA-Covered Entity?
The term “HIPAA covered entity” wasn’t included in the Healthcare Insurance Portability and [...]
Summary of January 2019 Healthcare Data Breaches
After a quiet month in terms of healthcare data breaches, breach reports rose again to more normal levels [...]
New Bill Seeks to Expand the Data Breach Notification Law in California
California already has tough data breach notification laws, but there is a loophole which could soon be [...]
Final Mobile Device Security Guide Released by NIST NCCoE
The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) recently published final guidance on mobile device [...]
Kentucky Counseling Center Insider Breach Affects 16,440 Patients
A list of 16,440 Kentucky Counseling Center (KCC) patients was stolen and shared with another person. The [...]
Is Zendesk HIPAA Compliant?
Zendesk is a provider of a customer service software program and support ticketing system. More than 200,000 [...]
Sensitive Health Information Shared in Facebook Closed Groups Allegedly Exposed
A complaint has been submitted to the FTC alleging Facebook as engaged in deceptive practices and has [...]
Cottage Health to Pay $3 Million to Resolve HIPAA Violation Case
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has agreed to settle a HIPAA [...]
Almost 1 Million Patients of UW Medicine Have PHI Exposed Online
The accidental removal of protections on a UW Medicine website server resulted in the protected health [...]
New Free Decryptor for GandCrab Ransomware v5.1 Now Available
The Romanian police has developed a new free decryptor for GandCrab ransomware, assisted by [...]
Report Reveals 473% Increase in Healthcare Email Fraud Attacks in 2 Years
Proofpoint revealed in its recent healthcare email security report that there has been a 473% increase in [...]
German Bundeskartellamt Restricts Data Gathering by Facebook
Last week, Bundeskartellamt, the German antitrust authority, determined that Facebook somewhat abuses its [...]
Business Associate Notified Patients of PHI Theft 8 Months After Discovery of a Data Breach
Sharecare Health Data Services (SHDS) provides secure healthcare records management services to healthcare [...]
PHI of 30,000 Memorial Hospital Patients and 5,524 AZ Plastic Surgery Center Patients Breached
Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, Mississippi, is informing around 30,000 patients that unauthorized persons [...]
OIG Audit Findings of National Institutes of Health
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a report of the [...]
42,000 Patients Impacted by 16-Month Malware Attack on Florida Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine Center
The AdventHealth Medical Group Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine in Tavares, Florida, previously called Lake [...]
March 1, 2019 is the Last Day for Submitting Small Healthcare Data Breach Reports
The deadline for submitting 2018 data breach reports for breaches that have affected fewer than 500 [...]
Massive Annual Increase in Exposed Healthcare Records
2018 saw a massive increase in the number of exposed healthcare records according to the 2019 Breach [...]
Theft of Patient Schedules Results in Potential Exposure of PHI of 3,472 Anesthesia Associates of Kansas City Patients
Paperwork containing information on patients has been stolen from an Anesthesia Associates of Kansas City [...]
New Rules on Patient Access and Information Blocking Proposed by ONC and CMS
The HHS’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Centers for [...]
HIMSS Cybersecurity Survey Reveals Phishing and Legacy Systems Major Security Concerns
HIMSS has published the results of its annual cybersecurity survey. The aim of the survey is to identify [...]
To Whom Should HIPAA Complaints be Reported to Within a Covered Entity?
To whom should HIPAA violation complaints be directed to inside a covered entity? If a healthcare employee [...]
GDPR Supervisory Authorities Have Received 59,000 Data Breach Reports and Issued 91 Fines
DLA Piper’s new report shows there have been 59,430 data breaches reported to EU regulatory authorities [...]
Malware Attack on Pawnee County Memorial Hospital Impacts 7,000 Patients
Pawnee County Memorial Hospital located in Pawnee City, Nebraska, is notifying 7,038 patients that a hacker [...]
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