Healthcare data breaches have become so commonplace that this Editor now leaves it to others to report. They all share the same characteristics–international hackers inserting ransomware in compromised systems and demanding billions in bitcoin, disgruntled employees erasing or taking home files, burglaries, inside jobs of various stripes. A steady drumbeat despite many efforts to secure against outside attacks and continously monitor systems, still there are plenty of legacy devices floating around hospitals and clinics using outdated computer software and initial setup passwords.
But this one hits a new high of heartlessness. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), headquartered in Geneva, reported that on 18 January that servers hosting the personal information of more than 500,000 displaced people receiving aid services from the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement program had been hacked. The servers were located in Switzerland and were directly targeted. The 515,000 records were of people in the ‘Restoring Family Links’ program which aids missing people and their families, unaccompanied or separated children, detainees, and other people as a result of armed conflict, natural disasters, or migration. The information consisted of names, locations, and contacts. In addition, log in information of 2,000 workers was also breached. Pray tell, where’s the monetary value in this? Or is there something more nefarious? These systems and their information have been taken offline, hampering this international program. ICRC ‘What We Know’, Becker’s Health IT, Healthcare IT News
A more ‘garden variety’ breach of 9,000 patients’ protected health information (PHI) took place in November at Philadelphia’s Jefferson Health. This was an insurance portal breach that accessed patient billing information with the intent of rerouting the payments from the hospital to themselves. The hacker in the process gained access to patient billing information, names, dates of treatment, treatment codes and costs, but not the jackpot of SSI and other financial information. The article does not disclose whether payments were successfully redirected. Becker’s Health IT
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