Cybersecurity news for hospitals and health systems

While superheroes protect entire cities from villains in their respective universes, a superhero password might have a hard time preventing account holders from getting hacked, according to a recent Mozilla report.

Two men, one from Ukraine and one from Russia, were charged Nov. 8 in connection with the deployment of REvil ransomware attacks on the U.S. government and businesses, according to the Justice Department. 

Thirteen vulnerabilities have been identified in medical devices made by a range of vendors in the healthcare industry, according to a Nov. 9 CNN report.

Hackers have breached nine organizations — including at least one in the healthcare industry — in efforts to commit cyber espionage, CNN reported Nov. 8.

QRS, a health IT and EHR software company, recently began notifying its provider clients of a cyberattack on a patient portal server that exposed almost 320,000 patients' personal information. 

Hackers are holding on to stolen data they cannot access  with hopes that quantum computers will soon be able to break the codes — a strategy U.S. officials are working to counteract attacks as hackers target hospitals, MIT Technology Review…

Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health is notifying 946 patients that billing information linked to their accounts might have been accessed by another person who was incorrectly given access.

Philips issued an advisory in regards to two vulnerabilities found in its Tasy EHR and how to address them, according to a statement the company shared with Becker's on Nov. 4.

Prairie Lakes Healthcare System is notifying patients that unauthorized activity disrupted its network and it is investigating the scope of the breach.

Below are five federal cybersecurity initiatives reported by Becker's Hospital Review and launched in the last 30 days.