Cybersecurity

The digital security of healthcare institutions and data is a growing concern, with an increasing number of cyberattacks each year against healthcare systems, which are seen as easy targets. Cyber attacks often use ransomware to target personal health information, patient data and medical devices to cut off access to the data until a ransom is payed to the hacker. Cybercriminals have become more sophisticated, using malware, ransomware and spyware to attack outdated and vulnerable systems and software. Due to the interconnected nature of hospital IT systems today, the weakest link can be older web-enabled medical devices, including clinical and non-clinical systems. Employees are also a major target of attacks via malicious e-mails that prompt them to open attachments that then download malware onto the hospital's IT system.

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DNA testing companies agree to new data sharing rules

Genetic testing companies—including Ancestry and 23andMe—have agreed to new rules when it comes to sharing customers’ DNA with third-party companies, Fortune reported.

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GSK reaches 4-year, $300M deal with 23andMe for genetic data

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced a four-year, $300 million deal with 23andMe, a personal genomics and biotechnology company based in Mountain View, California. The British pharmaceutical company will have access to genetic information of 23andMe’s five million customers.

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Hostage crisis? Ransomware is a threat that demands disaster planning

Considering the growing threat of ransomware in healthcare, organizations need to plan for the day their data become hostages, according to new research from Marshall University. Training and maintaining “digital hygiene” can not only reduce the likelihood of an attack, it also may reduce the financial and operational impacts of an incident.

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Hackers access health records of 1.5M patients in Singapore

Attempts to hack political players isn’t just an American thing. Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore’s prime minister, has been repeatedly targeted by cyber thieves—and they have accessed a database with information of 1.5 million patients who visited clinics run by SingHealth, the country’s public healthcare system.

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Could blockchain be the answer to fraud?

Reports of a Chinese vaccine manufacturer fabricating data about its rabies vaccine data has caused an uproar both in China and internationally. It also has also led many to consider blockchain as a potential answer to fraudulent activity.

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Data breaches are more common—and they're costing millions

Data breaches are major operational disruptors that cost companies millions of dollars—and healthcare ends up getting hit the hardest.

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Ransomware incidents down 17%—but threat of cyberattacks continues to grow

Cyberattacks are on the rise, but ransomware has declined 17 percent, according to ISACA’s State of Cybersecurity 2018 survey.

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Mayo Clinic, Medicalchain sign work agreement to explore blockchain

Medicalchain, providers of blockchain technology for the secure storage and transfer of electronic health records, have signed a joint work agreement with Mayo Clinic to improve blockchain technology utilization in healthcare.

Around the web

The American College of Cardiology has shared its perspective on new CMS payment policies, highlighting revenue concerns while providing key details for cardiologists and other cardiology professionals. 

As debate simmers over how best to regulate AI, experts continue to offer guidance on where to start, how to proceed and what to emphasize. A new resource models its recommendations on what its authors call the “SETO Loop.”

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, MD, said the clinical community needs to combat health misinformation at a grassroots level. He warned that patients are immersed in a "sea of misinformation without a compass."

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