Privacy & Security

Healthcare organizations must be proactive about protecting patient data. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe to skip the reactive reporting and linear approach, the COO of a health information exchange explains.

After an incident exposed the protected health information of 31,800 people, the organization failed to conduct a proper risk analysis, according to federal officials.

The biggest problem? Outdated IT and tight budgets make it hard to fend off growing throngs of hackers.

The strain adds a level of complication to decryption by encrypting every file with a unique key. And it may be able to fly under the radar of anti-ransomware software.

IoT devices operating on radio frequency, a.k.a. Internet of Radios, are causing a new breed of security headaches. Tips for protecting against them.

The initiative has added a WildFire decryptor and deprived cybercriminals of an estimated 1.35 million euros since its inception in July.

Managing user privileges is among the most basic practices in any security strategy. Establishing a process also paves the way for other tactics, like provisioning and bridging the gap between IT and HR, that can keep internal and external threats at bay. Experts divulge insights and best practices. 

Hint: It’s not the steady stream of data breaches. But they are walking the same tightrope. 

Healthcare IT News asks HIT professionals to take part in an important new survey that will study the place of EHRs, cybersecurity, population health, Big Data and more in the year ahead.  

Some 118 security incidents were either reported to the Department of Health and Human Services or first disclosed in the media in Q3 2016, compared with 89 in Q2 and 63 in Q1, a Protenus report finds.