Cybersecurity

Several hospitals and health systems across the U.S. are facing lawsuits regarding data breach incidents that involved patients' protected health information. 

Good Samaritan Hospital, based in San Jose, Calif., has paid an "undisclosed amount" to settle claims that the health system failed to prevent a June and July 2020 data breach that compromised patients' protected health information, Top Class Actions reported…

The cost of ransomware per incident has doubled in the past two years to $26,000, according to Verizon's 2023 data breach investigations report.

The Justice Department has charged Ruslan Magomedovich Astamirov on allegations of deploying LockBit ransomware on computer systems in the U.S., Asia, Europe and Africa. 

In 2021, when Scripps Mercy Hospital of San Diego was hit with a ransomware attack, it caused ripple effects to nearby hospitals, including UC San Diego Health, which had to see an influx of patients as they got diverted to…

The Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center is raising the alarm on TimisoaraHackerTeam, a newer and relatively unknown ransomware group that targeted a U.S. cancer center in June.

St. Louis-based Ascension is facing a lawsuit for allegedly taking employees' fingerprints without their consent, Law360 reported June 16. 

Nate Couture, chief information security officer of the Burlington-based University of Vermont Health Network, said rural hospitals' compensation for cybersecurity talent is much lower than other industries, making it harder to fill roles, GovInfoSecurity reported June 14.  

Insider threats, which include healthcare employees who abuse their access rights to steal patient data to commit identity theft and financial fraud, have affected three hospitals and health systems.

MercyOne, based in West Des Moines, Iowa, is facing a lawsuit for a May data breach in which an unauthorized party accessed its network, compromising the protected health information of 20,000 patients, Iowa Capital Dispatch reported June 15.