Cybersecurity

The Department of Health and Human Services Cybersecurity Coordination Center warned the healthcare sector of a number of legitimate security tools that are most often abused by hackers in an Oct. 6 whitepaper. 

Patients and health providers from numerous subsidiaries of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health have revealed the ongoing effect of the unidentified IT security incident that reportedly began Oct. 3. 

Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health has been dealing with a large-scale IT security incident this week that has been shutting down EHRs and canceling patient appointments at its hospitals across the country.

A hard-coded credential vulnerability in medical laboratory equipment used for cervical cancer screenings could allow an attacker to modify sensitive patient information, according to an Oct. 4 warning from BD and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. 

Seattle-based UW Medicine is notifying patients about a ransomware attack at a mail service vendor that has compromised the protected health information of 3,800 patients. 

All care locations in MercyOne Central Iowa's region, including Des Moines, are continuing to take patient appointments even as the health system struggles with an unspecified IT security breach affecting its parent company, Chicago-based CommonSpirit, the Des Moines Register reported…

While working with so much personal data and information, health systems need to be aware of behaviors that can lead to a data breach.

Telehealth unicorn Ro is alerting employees that a security contractor "inadvertently" uploading a spreadsheet of employee data led to a data breach, according to Oct. 6 reporting in Techcrunch.

The former chief security officer of Uber has been found guilty of not reporting a data breach to federal authorities, The New York Times reported Oct. 5.

Chicago-based CommonSpirit, the second-largest nonprofit hospital chain in the U.S., has confirmed a cybersecurity incident has disrupted medical services, IT systems and EHR systems at its facilities across the country.