HIPAA News

Although it is hard to get exact information on the number of ransomware attacks being done on healthcare companies, the available information indicates a drop in attacks throughout all industries when compared to the number […]

There are fewer reported healthcare data breaches for two consecutive months. December 2022 had 40 data breaches involving 500 and up healthcare records, which is the lowest monthly number in 2022. The reported healthcare data […]

Healthcare ransomware attacks have increased twofold in the past 5 years, file recovery from backups has dropped, and it is now usual for information to be stolen and released to the public right after a […]

Several lawsuits were filed against Shields Health Care Group in Massachusetts in relation to one of the biggest healthcare data breaches in 2022, where nearly 2 million people were affected. The lawsuits were combined into […]

The health system CommonSpirit Health based in Chicago, IL is dealing with a class action lawsuit due to a ransomware attack in October 2022. Malicious actors accessed its IT network on September 16, 2022, and […]

The practices of acquiring permission from users of Facebook and Instagram to utilize their personal information for marketing purposes have been subject to a lengthy investigation. Finally, Meta has been penalized €390 million or $414 […]

Heartland Alliance located in Chicago, IL, a social justice and human rights organization, announced on December 15, 2022, that it experienced a cyberattack. The organization discovered the security breach on January 26, 2022, and took […]

In June 2022, it was reported that Fitzgibbon Hospital based in Marshall, MO suffered a ransomware attack, which the DAIXIN Team threat group claimed responsibility for. According to the group’s spokesperson, the hospital’s systems were […]

Many ransomware attacks are still carried out on healthcare companies, however, finding out the magnitude to which healthcare providers are being attacked by ransomware groups is a difficult task. Ransomware attack victims do not usually […]

Fertility Centers of Illinois has offered to pay $450,000 to settle a lawsuit submitted on behalf of patients and staff members who were impacted by its data breach in February 2021. On February 1, 2021, […]

November had 31% fewer healthcare data breaches reported compared to October 2022. November had a total of 49 breaches involving 500 and up records, which is below the 58 breaches per month 12-month average. In […]

Plaintiffs in a consolidated class action lawsuit against Meta lately sought an injunction versus Meta to make the company discontinue accumulating and transmitting information gathered from the sites of healthcare companies via Meta Pixel tracking […]

Midwest Orthopaedic Consultants based in Illinois has reported that unauthorized persons accessed its computer system and encrypted files using ransomware. The healthcare provider detected the cyberattack on September 29, 2022, and took steps right away […]

Morley Companies has decided to resolve a class action lawsuit sent in on behalf of persons impacted by a big data breach that happened on or about August 1, 2022. Funding of $4.3 million was […]

Avem Health Partners based in Oklahoma City provides healthcare companies with administrative and technology services. It recently began informing its healthcare clients regarding a data breach that happened at 365 Data Centers, its vendor. 365 […]

An ex-nurse working at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center based in Buffalo, NY was sentenced to serve 37 months in jail for tinkering with and stealing controlled prescription drugs meant for patients with cancer. […]

Citrix Application Delivery Controller (ADC) and Citrix Gateway users are advised to see and ensure that their systems aren’t prone to a critical unauthenticated remote code execution vulnerability that a highly capable Chinese advanced persistent […]

Occupational health services provider, Work Health Solutions based in San Jose, CA, has reported the exposure and potential theft of the protected health information (PHI) of 13,157 persons by unauthorized people who got access to […]

The private data of people visiting telehealth websites is being disclosed to big tech firms without the consent of the user because of the tracking code snippets added to websites, based on a recent review […]

The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reported an arrangement with a Californian dental practice to settle multiple HIPAA violations associated with a complaint concerning impermissible disclosures of protected health information (PHI) on Yelp, an […]

San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital based in California and Receivables Performance Management based in Washington recently reported data breaches. The latter’s data breach has impacted more than 3.7 million persons. Receivables Performance Management Receivables Performance Management […]

Non-profit healthcare system Conway Regional Medical Center located in north central Arkansas has offered to pay $295,000 to settle a class action lawsuit that was submitted for people impacted by a 2019 data breach. The […]

Mobile health applications creators may need to comply with certain government legislation such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), FTC Health Breach Notification Rule, Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act (FD&C Act), FTC […]

Multiple class action lawsuits were filed against Empress EMS, the New York ambulance service, because of a ransomware attack that was discovered on July 14, 2022. The group responsible for the attack was the Hive […]

San Juan Regional Medical Center (SJRMC) based in Farmington, New Mexico, has presented a settlement to take care of a class action lawsuit associated with a data breach in September 2020 that impacted 68,792 individuals. […]

LastPass has announced that hackers acquired access to a third-party cloud storage solution that held customer information, though there was no compromise of user passwords. The hacking incident is associated with the data breach that […]

A team of 10 state Attorney Generals lately sent a letter to Apple CEO, Tim Cook, telling the company to use tougher privacy and security settings for programs accessible via the Apple App Store that […]

There was a small decrease in ransomware attacks in Q3, but it is too soon to say whether that decreasing trend will go on. Despite the decrease in attacks, ransomware continues to be the main […]

563,000 Patients and Health Plan Members Affected by Hacking and IT Incidents Consulting company Health Care Management Solutions LLC based in West Virginia, which provides healthcare for vulnerable individuals including veterans, has just submitted a […]

Hope Health Systems Inc. (HHS) based in Woodlawn, MD has just reported that it suffered a ransomware attack. The healthcare provider detected the attack on June 20, 2022, and engaged third-party forensics specialists to look […]

Gateway Rehabilitation Center (Gateway Rehab) based in Pennsylvania recently reported that it encountered an incident causing access problems to selected systems. Gateway Rehab detected the incident on June 13, 2022 and took quick action to […]

The dermatology practice, Forefront Dermatology, based in Wisconsin has offered to resolve a class action lawsuit filed by patients who had their protected health information (PHI) exposed during a ransomware attack at the end of […]

Wright & Filippis, the prosthetics, orthotics, and accessibility service provider based in Rochester Hills, MI has just reported that it encountered a ransomware attack on its system. The attack happened from January 26 to January […]

There was a worldwide upsurge in cyberattacks in Quarter 3 of 2022. Attacks increased by 28% in contrast to the same period in 2021. Attacks today occur at an average rate of 1,130 every week, […]

Salud Family Health Gives Latest News on September 2022 Ransomware Attack Salud Family Health based in Colorado, a Federal Qualified Health Center (FQHC), just gave the latest information on a cyberattack that happened in September […]

Governor Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania just approved Senate Bill 696. The bill broadens the definition of personal information that is covered in the Breach of Personal Information Notification Act which requires the issuance of notifications […]

A federal grand jury in Memphis charged five ex-employees of Methodist Hospital in Tennessee with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) criminal violations for impermissibly obtaining the protected health information (PHI) of patients and […]

CommonSpirit Health has just given news updates about the development of its recovery effort in response to the October 2022 ransomware attack that impacted numerous services throughout its network. The health system discovered the attack […]

The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) has lately provided information on the tactics, techniques, and procedures related to Venus ransomware attacks. It gave a number of tips about mitigations that healthcare groups can carry […]

CommonSpirit Health has lately given an announcement about the development that has been done in recouping from a ransomware attack in October 2022 that impacted a lot of services throughout its network. The health system […]

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital has offered to settle a class action lawsuit that was filed in relation to two privacy breaches where employees accessed medical records without authorization. The Chicago hospital found […]

Aveanna Healthcare has decided to pay the Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts $425,000 as a financial penalty for not implementing proper safety measures to avoid phishing attacks, thus violating state and government legislation. […]

A number of anesthesia service providers have reported that they were impacted by a data breach encountered by their management services organization (MSO). In October, 13 anesthesia services providers to hospitals were impacted by the […]

President Biden proclaimed November to be observed as Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month. It is a month focused on increasing understanding of the requirement to enhance critical infrastructure and toning up the strength of […]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has published a YouTube video that tells at length how the HITECH Act amendment in 2021 concerning “Recognized Security Practices” is applicable […]

Passwords are an affordable and easy way of authentication. Although passwords offer a high level of security, the fact is that they are a weak spot that threat actors frequently exploit to acquire access to […]

A Californian appellate court has just announced the lower court’s decision to reject class-action status for a legal action filed against a healthcare provider in California because of an insider data breach that impacted 5,485 […]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island (ACLU of RI) is filing a lawsuit against the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) and UnitedHealthcare New England (UHC) because of a data breach in August […]

The U.S. government is working on enhancing critical infrastructure cybersecurity. The White House has chosen the healthcare, communications, and water sectors as the next priority areas. The White House is about to release new guidance […]

First, Novant Health stated that the protected health information (PHI) of 1.36 million individuals was transmitted to Meta. Now, Advocate Aurora Health is the second to confirm that it also put the Meta Pixel tracking […]

VisionWeb Holdings based in Austin, TX, a company providing the eye care industry with Internet-delivered software solutions for enhancing practice efficiency, lately submitted a data breach report to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights indicating […]

Cybercriminals extensively target the healthcare industry in order to access healthcare networks for a variety of nefarious uses. Why are healthcare records remarkably valuable to criminals? Hackers do a lot to gain access to healthcare […]

Radiology Associates of Albuquerque (also known as RAA Imaging/Advanced Imaging, LLC) has lately informed patients about the theft of some of their protected health information (PHI) in a cyberattack that was discovered over A year […]

Aesthetic Dermatology Associates based in Pennsylvania has lately confirmed that unauthorized individuals accessed its network and possibly viewed and/or obtained files that contain the personal data and protected health information (PHI) of 33,793 present and […]

United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley (UNC) has offered a settlement deal to take care of a class action lawsuit filed for the sake of patients impacted by its Vice Society ransomware attack […]

Cardiac Imaging Associates based in Los Angeles, CA, has found out that an unauthorized person got access to the email account of an employee. The healthcare provider discovered the incident in April 2022, and took […]

Cytometry Specialists, Inc., conducting business as CSI Laboratories based in Alpharetta, GA, has lately reported that an unauthorized person accessed the email account of a worker and could have seen or acquired the protected health […]

CommonSpirit Health is dealing with a data security incident that has impacted a lot of its healthcare services. Based on an October 4, 2022 statement released by the health system, IT systems were inaccessible online […]

Mon Health is dealing with a class action lawsuit associated with a hacking incident that enabled unauthorized persons to acquire access to its system for 11 days in December 2021. According to Mon Health, it […]

Microsoft was cautioned about the exploitation in the wild of two zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server. It has discussed mitigations prior to the patching of the vulnerabilities. The two vulnerabilities are being linked together […]

Magellan Health has decided to resolve a class action data breach legal action and will set up a $1.43 million funding to pay for claims submitted by patients impacted by the data breach. Patients whose […]

A warning was released to the healthcare and public health (HPH) community regarding a Monkeypox phishing campaign attacking U.S. healthcare providers that tries to steal Office 365, Outlook, and other email account credentials. Monkeypox is […]

The HHS’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has made a decision to settle three investigations of dental practices for probable violations of HIPAA Right of Access . The three investigations were started after patients filed […]

Google Meet is an innovative VoIP and videoconferencing program that healthcare providers can use to deliver telehealth services, remote consultation services, and virtual patient sessions. However, is Google Meet compliant with HIPAA? Google Meet is […]

For three months now, the reported number of healthcare data breaches has gone down. August had 49 reported breaches involving 500 or more records, which is below the typical 58 breaches a month. The number […]

The Physicians’ Spine and Rehabilitation Specialists of Georgia (PSRSG) has informed 38,765 patients about the potential compromise of some of their protected health information (PHI) in a cyberattack that happened approximately on July 11, 2022. […]

The Ohio law company, Bricker & Eckler LLP, decided to resolve a class action data breach lawsuit filed on behalf of those impacted by a ransomware attack on the company in 2021. Bricker & Eckler […]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released a TLP:WHITE Private Industry Notification notifying about persistent cybercriminal efforts attacking healthcare payment processors that endeavor to direct victim payments to accounts controlled by the attackers. These […]

Ambry Genetics has made a decision to settle a class action lawsuit that was due to a breach of the protected health information (PHI) of 232,772 patients. In April 2020, Ambry Genetics informed patients about […]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has given a private industry notification alert concerning the growing number of vulnerabilities in healthcare devices. When medical devices aren’t immediately patched and are operating on obsolete programs, malicious […]

Emerging technologies could transform the healthcare sector. Although there are lots of potential advantages, these technologies could bring risks that can endanger patient privacy and security. When vulnerabilities aren’t appropriately dealt with, threat actors can […]

Rapid 7 researchers found four vulnerabilities in Baxter and Sigma Spectrum infusion pumps. These devices are employed to supply patients with medications and nutrition. These TCP/IP enabled-devices are typically linked to healthcare networks. Vulnerabilities can […]

The healthcare provider based in Morristown, VT, Lamoille Health Partners, is dealing with a class action lawsuit because of a ransomware attack in June 2022 that impacted approximately 60,000 patients. Lamoille Health Partners discovered the […]

The HHS’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) has required the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to enhance supervision of the cybersecurity of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). The OPTN is a nationwide […]

Five vulnerabilities were found in CMS8000 CONTEC ICU CCU Vital Signs Patient Monitor of Contec Health. A threat actor could exploit the vulnerabilities to carry out a denial-of-service attack, gain access to a root shell, […]

CorrectHealth Notifies 54,000 Patients About the Email System Breach in November 2021 CorrectHealth based in Alpharetta, GA is sending notifications to patients regarding a breach of its email accounts. The security breach was identified on […]

The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) is alerting the healthcare and public health sector (HPH) regarding one of the ablest and hostile cybercrime syndicates presently active – Evil Corp. The group works from Russia […]

Avamere Holdings based in Wilsonville, OR, a provider of home health care services and operator of a nursing home, is dealing with a class action lawsuit due to a serious data breach that impacted 96 […]

EmergeOrtho, an orthopedic practice in North Carolina, has just informed 75,200 patients that unauthorized individuals accessed some of their protected health information (PHI). As per the substitute breach notice posted by EmergeOrtho, the practice detected […]

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) has released an alert to the Healthcare and Public Health Sector (HPH) regarding a fairly new ransom threat group named Karakurt, which […]

Humana & Cotiviti have decided to resolve a class action lawsuit and the claims from people impacted by a data breach in 2020 that compromised the protected health information (PHI) of 64,654 people. Humana had […]

Onyx Technologies based in Largo, MD, a company offering Information Technology and Consulting Services and a vendor of Independent Care Health Plan (iCare), recently informed 96,814 health plan members about the potential compromise of some […]

July 2022 had 66 healthcare data breaches affecting 500 and up records reported to the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. This figure is 5.71% less than the 70 data breach […]

A digital marketing and analytics company based in Idaho filed a lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly violating the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act with its data practices. Kochava’s principal business unit offers […]

Practice Resources based in Syracuse, NY provides billing and other professional services. It encountered a data breach that affected the data of 942,138 persons. The breach notification provided to the California Attorney General indicated that […]

The health plan provider Priority Health based in Michigan has reported that it was affected by a data breach that occurred at a business associate, the law agency Warner Norcross & Judd (WNJ). Steps were […]

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have released a joint security advisory concerning the extensive attack on organizations in the healthcare and medical sectors by the […]

The American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) presented in June was considerably revised in just a few days. Then, last month there was a new draft of ADPPA law presented having more changes. The […]

Zenith American Solutions, the Sound Health and Wellness Trust’s third-party manager, recently advised people regarding a mailing error that compromised their Social Security numbers of the people. Based on the breach notification, the company sent […]

Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System based in California has decided to negotiate a class action lawsuit by paying $340,000 to settle claims from patients impacted by the email security breach in 2020. From April 30, […]

Additional information was recently published regarding two cyberattacks on healthcare companies: Behavioral Health Group and Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine. Behavioral Health Group Reports Potential Compromise of Patient Data in December 2021 Cyberattack Behavioral Health […]

Dental Care Alliance decided to resolve a class action lawsuit filed due to a data breach that affected approximately 1.7 million people. A $3 million fund was reserved to cover claims from persons impacted by […]

Fast Track Urgent Care, an urgent healthcare clinic network in Florida, has announced that the protected health information (PHI) of 258,411 persons was exposed and possibly stolen due to a ransomware attack on PracticeMax, a […]

Meta is dealing with one more class action lawsuit because of the illegal collection and disclosure of health information with no content. The Northern District of California received the filed lawsuit on behalf of the […]

A big data breach was reported that has impacted many healthcare, senior living and rehabilitation centers in Arizona, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, and Washington, which are managed by organizations that belong to the group Avamere […]

Almost all Americans are confident regarding their understanding of cybersecurity as per the latest AT&T study of 2,000 People in America. Nevertheless, bad cyber hygiene and poor password strategies remain a usual thing. OnePoll performed […]

Cybercriminals are increasingly attacking business associates of HIPAA-covered entities because of the ease of accessing the systems of a number of healthcare providers. To help healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) manage the situation, the Cloud Security […]

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) has released information to assist healthcare companies to be protected against web application attacks. In recent years, web applications have increased in […]

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSofMA) has just confirmed that a data breach at a business associate resulted in the exposure of the protected health information (PHI) of a number of its health […]

In June 2022, 70 healthcare data breaches involving 500 or higher records were reported to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR). This number is two less than May and […]