[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Hackermania.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Hackermania in healthcare may be running less wild…but what about consumer health devices? Year-end and top-of-year analyses indicate that the flood of breached records may be starting to drain. A Bitglass analysis of 2017 US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) data from its infamous ‘Wall of Shame’ is encouraging. They found that the number of breached records decreased over the 2015-2017 period by 72 percent between 2015 and 2017 and by 95 percent from 2016. The calculation excludes the huge spike in breaches due to two 2015 incidents at Anthem and Premera Blue Cross [TTA... Continue Reading
Search Results for hackermania
KRACK is wack for Wi-Fi attack–protocol flaw exposed
What’s being called Black Monday in the security world is the discovery of a fundamental flaw with WPA2 (Wireless Protected Access v2), which secures an estimated 60 percent of the world’s Wi-Fi networks. According to all reports, the WPA2 protocol (the ‘handshake’ between the device and the router) can be manipulated into reusing encryption keys. ‘KRACK’–for Key Reinstallation Attack–threatens any Wi-Fi enabled device and all Wi-Fi networks. It was discovered by researchers at KU Leuven, a university in Flanders, Belgium. Threats include attacks on any sensitive information–hackermania potentially running wild. The vulnerability also permits an attacker to inject malicious information–ransomware... Continue Reading
Hackermania meets The Dark Overlord with 2.3 million 2017 health data breaches
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Hackermania.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]It’s a cage match! Reports are soaring, with a proliferation of data breaches year to date, after a relatively quiet period in 2016. The Dark Overlord (TDO), in the mainstream news with dumping unseen Netflix program episodes on illegal file-sharing sites and demanding ransom (Guardian), also has been hard at work dumping PHI hacked from various clinics. DataBreaches.net tallied it at 180,000 records from at least nine medical clinics. Health data security developer/provider Protenus, whose Breach Barometer tracks the numbers, counted 2.1 million breaches in 1st Quarter. March spiked with 700,000 coming from Commonwealth Health Corporation of... Continue Reading
The cybersecurity black hole–and bad flashback–that is the Internet of Things
...from a hacker at all.” Privacy by Design is not part of the vocabulary of the makers of these IoT gadgets Varonis also gives a how-to on changing settings in your router so you don’t become a victim, and how to secure your gadgets. Bottom line: when Hackermania is Running Wild, do you, or anyone, really need to be an early adopter of an internet- connected coffee maker or fridge? And if you need internet-connected home security, telemedicine virtual consults, telehealth/remote patient monitoring or telecare….best heed Varonis and secure it! Earlier in TTA: Friday’s cyberattack is a shot-over-bow for healthcare... Continue Reading
VA’s moves spell the end of the homegrown EHR
...its growing concession that VistA won’t do in caring for American veterans makes it clear that the future of EHRs is in private systems from major developers–a field which is winnowing out to The Few (take that, GE). There is also the push to make them interoperable so that patient information can move between them–securely, an overwhelming concern with Hackermania Running Wild. Epic has been taking considerable heat for designing a closed system, which was vehemently denied in a recent interview with HealthcareITNews. The international struggle to develop EHRs generally starts with the push to create one central system and... Continue Reading
Data breach cost crests $4 million: Ponemon Institute
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Hackermania.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]The average fully allocated cost of a data breach, according to the 2016 Ponemon Institute study (sponsored by IBM) is now over $4 million. The average global cost of every lost or stolen record is $158, but for healthcare organizations, that average cost is $355 per record, which reflects the higher street value of healthcare information. Healthcare was the second most ‘churned’ type of organization, surpassed only by financial services. Across the industries surveyed, hacking and ‘inside jobs’ caused the most data breaches overall–48 percent. (Hackermania does really run wild!) Healthcare organizations can mitigate costs by being... Continue Reading
Ransom! (ware) strikes more hospitals and Apple (update)–Healthcare.gov’s plus trouble
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Hackermania.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]Get out the Ransom! California hospitals appear to be Top of the Pops for ransomware attacks, which lock down and encrypt information after someone opens a malicious link in email, making it inaccessible. After the well-publicized attack on Hollywood Presbyterian in February, this week two hospitals in the Inland Empire, Chino Valley Medical Center in Chino and Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville, both owned by Prime Healthcare Management, received demands. While hacked, neither hospital paid the ransom and no patient data was compromised according to hospital spokesmen. Additional hospitals earlier this month: Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky... Continue Reading
Fitness trackers, mobile apps shown to leak sensitive data
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/band1.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]An unnerving 35-page report published by Canadian nonprofit OpenEffect, assisted by the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, claims that leading fitness trackers and their corresponding mobile apps are veritable sieves of personal data, inviting security breaches. Where Hackermania Runs Wild starts with lack of Bluetooth LE privacy, allowing tracking via Bluetooth even when the tracker isn’t paired to a smartphone. Then many of the companion apps leaked login credentials, transmitted activity tracking information in a way that allowed interception or tampering, or allowed users (or others) to insert false activity... Continue Reading
The evolution of Facebook: implications for social health
...for the site, you should expect that every piece of information you submit (even if it is not currently displayed) may be shared with our partners and any member of PatientsLikeMe, including other patients.” We’ve also noted that genomics data may not be sufficiently de-identified so that it can’t be matched through inference [TTA 31 Oct 15], with the potential for sale. And of course Hackermania Running Wild continues (see here). For now general information sites like WebMD and personalized reference sites such as Medivisor feel more secure to users, as well as small non-commercialized OSGs and ‘closed’ telehealth/telemedicine systems.... Continue Reading
Hackers hit another Blue Cross, put 10.5 million members at risk (Breaking)
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Hackermania.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]BREAKING NEWS This time the data breach is at Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, which covers upstate New York (Rochester-Syracuse area). It was discovered by Excellus on 5 August but dated back to 23 Dec 13, and reportedly has compromised members’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, financial account information and in some cases sensitive medical information. According to the AP/NBC, it also breached other divisions of Excellus and the corporate parent, Lifetime Healthcare: Lifetime Benefit Solutions, Lifetime Care, Lifetime Health Medical Group, The MedAmerica Companies and Univera Healthcare. The source of the hack has not... Continue Reading
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