Criminal prosecutions under HIPAA are still relatively rare. Here’s one reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Tennessee on November 10: Memphis, TN – A federal grand jury has indicted five former Methodist Hospital employees for conspiring with Roderick Harvey, 40, to unlawfully disclose patient information in violation of the Health...
New York-Presbyterian Hospital posted a notice on their website on November 11. The incident has not yet shown up on HHS’s public breach tool, but undoubtedly will. Here is the description of the incident, as provided by the hospital: On September 8, 2022, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s data security monitors received an alert of suspicious activity...
On October 5, Salud Family Health in Colorado notified HHS of a breach, but only provided a “marker” of 501 affected. On November 4, they provided notice that said the types of information that might have been accessed or taken included in a cyberattack included: patients’ name, Social Security number, driver’s license number or...
Back in July, DataBreaches reported on an Avamere Health Services breach. Avamere has now updated their breach notification. Their newer notice is being provided on behalf of the following entities to whom Avamere is a Business Associate as defined under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”): A-One Home Health Services, LLC Avamere...
Caitlin Tilley reports: Twenty million Americans are at risk of ‘dangerous’ healthcare after a cyberattack at one of the country’s biggest hospital chains last month, security experts have told DailyMail.com. CommonSpirit Health — a system that runs 140 hospitals, and more than 1,000 care sites including cancer clinics, surgery hubs and stroke centers— suffered a major IT...
From an incident report appearing on Yale Medicine’s website: Yale Medicine has discovered a cybersecurity incident, involving the records of patients seen by Dr. Tito Vasquez at his former practice, Connecticut Plastic Surgery Group LLC, between 2009 and May 2021. This notice concerns a data security event that may have resulted in unauthorized access...
A cardiology practice recently discovered that early patient records stored in a basement locker had been stolen at some unknown time. Given that these were paper account ledgers, is there even a backup so that the practice will have the names and then-contact information of everyone who should be notified? Their media notice does...
Altoona Mirror reports on a case of insider wrongdoing: A medical assistant has been arrested on charges related to stealing patient information for personal use. Ashley Latimer, 34, of Philadelphia, used information she collected from patient records and licenses to open credit cards, purchase items and lease apartments, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in...
November 9, 2022 TLP: Clear Report: 202211091400 Executive Summary HC3 is aware of at least one healthcare entity in the United States falling victim to Venus ransomware recently. The threat actors behind Venus ransomware operations are known to target publicly exposed Remote Desktop Services to encrypt Windows devices. This report provides additional information, indicators...
Surprise: Daniel Kaye, operator of The Real Deal, pleads guilty to one count, is sentenced to time served, and is released.