In the wake of the largest U.S. health care data breach in history, Anthem, Inc., has agreed to pay $16 million to the Office for Civil Rights, which is a record settlement for alleged HIPAA violations. According to the Department…
Blog Archives
Anthem Agrees to Record Data Breach Settlement
Tagged with: breach, corrective action plan, cybersecurity, data security, ePHI, hacking, OCR
Posted in Cyberattack, Data Breach, Data Security, HIPAA, OCR
Posted in Cyberattack, Data Breach, Data Security, HIPAA, OCR
FTC Overturns ALJ’s LabMD Decision and Reasserts its Role as a Data Security Enforcer
On July 29, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) reversed an FTC administrative law judge’s (“ALJ”) opinion which had ruled against the FTC, finding that the Commission had failed to show that LabMD’s conduct caused harm to consumers…
OCR Announces New HIPAA Guidance on Ransomware
In response to the increasing prevalence of ransomware cyber-attacks by hackers on electronic health information systems in hospitals and medical practices, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on Monday July 11, 2016…
Tagged with: best practice, bitcoin, business associate, covered entity, data security, encryption, HHS, HIPAA, OCR, privacy, ransomware, security practices
Posted in HIPAA, Privacy
Posted in HIPAA, Privacy
Cyber-Security Alert: D.C. Area Hospital Chain MedStar Targeted By Hackers
MedStar, a Washington, D.C.-area hospital chain, became the latest healthcare industry victim of a cyber-attack when hackers breached its systems with a crippling virus. MedStar operates 10 hospitals in the D.C./Baltimore region, employs 30,000 staff, has 6,000 affiliated physicians, and…
Tagged with: breach, cyber crime, cyber security, data breach, data security, ePHI, hacking, privacy, security practices
Posted in Cyber crimes, Cyberattack, Data Breach, Data Security, HIPAA, Privacy
Posted in Cyber crimes, Cyberattack, Data Breach, Data Security, HIPAA, Privacy
OCR Announces Two Significant HIPAA Breach Settlements
On consecutive days, the Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently announced two large HIPAA breach settlements. On March 16, 2016, OCR announced that it entered into a Resolution Agreement with North…
Tagged with: breach, business associate, business associate agreement, corrective action plan, covered entity, encryption, HHS, HIPAA, laptop, OCR, PHI, policies and procedures, resolution agreement, risk analysis, risk assessment, settlement, unencrypted
Posted in Data Breach, Data Security, HIPAA
Posted in Data Breach, Data Security, HIPAA
FTC Loses in LabMD Data Security Case: ALJ Sets High Bar for Consumer Harm
On November 13, 2015, an administrative law judge (“ALJ”) ruled against the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) in its high-profile data security case against LabMD. The ALJ ruled that the FTC had failed to show that LabMD’s conduct had caused harm…
Tagged with: breach, cyber security, data breach, ePHI, file sharing, FTC, HHS, OCR, peer-to-peer, risk assessment, safeguards, security practices, unfair act or practice
Posted in Data Breach, Data Security, FTC, HIPAA, Litigation
Posted in Data Breach, Data Security, FTC, HIPAA, Litigation
OCR Announces Another HIPAA Settlement and Warns Not to Forget About Paper Records
On April 27, 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced that Cornell Prescription Pharmacy (“Cornell Pharmacy”) had entered into a resolution agreement to settle, without an admission of liability or wrongdoing,…
