Cybersecurity news for hospitals and health systems

Seattle-based Washington State University settled a class-action lawsuit, which stemmed from an April 2017 data breach, for $5.26 million, according to The Spokesman-Review.

Per the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014, HHS underwent its annual independent evaluation of its information security program and practices.

Physician staffing company EmCare is alerting patients, employees and contractors about a Feb. 19 data breach that exposed their personal data, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Bangor, Maine-based Northern Light Acadia Hospital mistakenly emailed the names of 300 patients who had prescriptions for Suboxone, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder, to an editor at the Bangor Daily News.

Scam artists are targeting senior-living communities and low-income neighborhoods in what appears to be an elaborate ruse to commit identity theft and defraud Medicare, according to Bloomberg.

Hackers could disguise malware as patient protected health information in MRI and CT scan images saved in the digital imaging and communications in medicine file format, Bleeping Computer reports.

A cyberattack last July on Macon, Ga.-based Navicent Health's employee email account system may have affected 278,016 patients' personal information, Spamfighter reports.

Blue Cross of Idaho is notifying members of a March 21 data breach that allowed an unauthorized user to gain access to the organization's online provider portal.

Microsoft emailed an unknown number of users April 12 across its Outlook, MSN and Hotmail platforms alerting them of a data breach that occurred between Jan. 1 and March 28, according to Wired.

Almost half of consumers (45 percent) believe their protected health information is more securely stored on their personal electronic devices than their healthcare providers', according to a Morphisec survey.