Health insurer Premera Blue Cross has agreed to pay 30 states $10.4 million to settle an investigation into a data breach that exposed personal information of more than 10 million people, according to GeekWire.
Cybersecurity
When it comes to the security of their patient portals, more than half of healthcare organizations consider theirs as above average or superior in comparison to other patient portals, according to a LexisNexis report.
Placerville, Calif.-based Shingle Springs Health and Wellness Center discovered that its server infrastructure was infected with ransomware on April 7, which may have compromised the protected health information of 21,513 patients.
Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health mailed letters to 1,000 patients regarding a data breach at a third-party vendor that may have exposed their protected health information, according to CBS3.
Video conferencing service provider Zoom confirmed July 10 that it will release a patch for a vulnerability that allowed hackers to hijack peoples' webcams, according to Wired.
A team of security researchers found a vulnerability in two versions of GE anesthesia and respiratory machines, according to TechCrunch.
DNA-testing service Vitagene shut down external access to more than 3,000 user files that were left exposed online for years, according to Bloomberg.
An employee of Los Angeles County Department of Health Services contractor Nemadji Research Corp. fell victim to a phishing attack in March that exposed 14,591 L.A. County patients' personal information, Los Angeles Times reports.
More hospital CFOs are taking on cybersecurity roles as well as being advocates for the purchasing of patient privacy solutions, a Black Book survey found.
The U.S. Cyber Command took to Twitter last week to issue a warning about a 2-year-old vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook that is being exploited by hackers, according to the HIPAA Journal.