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 Cybercriminals have become more sophisticated, using malware, ransomware and spyware to attack outdated and vulnerable systems and software.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.

Thumbnail

Healthcare cybersecurity claims represent 28% of total breach costs

Healthcare cybersecurity insurance claims in 2017 made up 17 percent of total claims—but accounted for 28 percent of costs related to breaches, roughly $65 million of a total $229 million, according to the 2017 Cyber Claims Study by NetDiligence.

Thumbnail

Facebook ends project to share data with healthcare orgs, hospitals

Facebook has been in the news lately, having to explain how millions of users' data have been misused. Now it has announced an end to plans to share user data with several major U.S. hospitals and organizations.

Social network sites improve communication between patients, providers—but put data at risk

Social network sites (SNSs) facilitate efficient communication between healthcare professionals but are limited in protecting data, according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Thumbnail

MyFitnessPal app experiences breach of 150M accounts

The popular diet and fitness application MyFitnessPal, purchased by Under Armour in 2015, has experienced a breach of security were 150 million accounts had their data stolen.

Thumbnail

1 CISO's 5 pillars of an effective cybersecurity program

In a March 8 session at HIMSS 2018 in Las Vegas, Kevin Charest, chief information security officer of the Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), outlined the five pillars of its cybersecurity program.

Thumbnail

Keeping employees engaged could reduce data breaches

The healthcare industry has ground to cover in the field of cybersecurity. While health systems are investing time and money in technological solutions, an article in the Harvard Business Review argues the solution lies in the human element of security.

Thumbnail

Report: 58% healthcare cybersecurity breaches involve insiders; 27% result from paper records

According to the 2018 Protected Health Information Data Breach Report (PHIDBR) from Verizon, cybersecurity in healthcare falls behind other industries in being able to protect personal information.

Thumbnail

Google announces blockchain development

Google has now announced it is developing blockchain solutions aimed at ensuring the safety of its cloud systems.

Around the web

Compensation for heart specialists continues to climb. What does this say about cardiology as a whole? Could private equity's rising influence bring about change? We spoke to MedAxiom CEO Jerry Blackwell, MD, MBA, a veteran cardiologist himself, to learn more.

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.”