Here we go again: this past Thursday, officials from three US federal agencies issued a statement warning about an “imminent cybercrime threat to US hospitals and healthcare providers.” The threat in question comes from a Russia-based cybercriminal gang preparing to disrupt information technology systems at hundreds of hospitals and medical care facilities all over the US with ransomware. The attackers will make devices on the hospital networks unusable unless a sizable payoff is made, and indeed, at least five US hospitals already seem to be under attack. With patient populations surging in the wake of another wave of coronavirus cases and a presidential election on the horizon, the imminent threat could prove catastrophic without the proper security measures to fight back.
Read More

In spite of longstanding HIPAA compliance requirements, and the billions of dollars being invested to ensure HIPAA compliance, it seems that cyberthreats and attackers aren't fazed. Healthcare suffered from some of the largest breaches ever reported in 2015. The breach at Anthem compromised 78.8 million records, and two additional breaches exposed more than 10 million records each¹. The following year, 2016, saw the highest number of breaches with 327 reported. The number of breaches in 2017 surpassed 2016, with more than 342 reported. While the number of breaches grew, the number of compromised records dropped from 112 million in 2016 to a little more than 14 million in 2017. Read More