Privacy & Security

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is looking for ways that blockchain could be put to work in healthcare scenarios.

Proposed legislation would elevate Health and Human Services' CISO from its current position under the CIO. Whether it passes or not, the notion is raising questions about typical reporting structures in the healthcare C-suite.

As cybersecurity threats proliferate so do the promises and proposed easy fixes from technology companies, the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology said. And in a market with more than 1,200 competitors, vendors don’t always live up to their claims.

The high number of breaches span payers, providers and an NFL team and prove just how vulnerable the industry is, the new Healthcare Breach Barometer from Protenus and Databreaches.net said. 

Healthcare providers typically spend less than 6 percent of their IT budget on security, according to HIMSS Analytics data. Financial institutions, by way of comparison, invest between 12 and 15 percent on average.

A CHCS iPhone housing protected health information of 412 nursing home residents that was unencrypted and not password protected was stolen, according to the Office for Civil Rights.  

Congressmen from both sides of the aisle weigh in on ransomware worries.

A third-party vendor is responsible for the security breach of the protected health information of 4,300 patients at Mass. General. Hospital executives posted an apology on its website on June 29.

Discovered by two security researchers, JavaScript ransomware provides hackers with an advantage over traditional .exe files, according to the cybersecurity company, Proofpoint.

Intrusion detection and prevention tools carry a range of features from forensics to pattern matching. Here's a look at the most important capabilities to beware of before buying a new system.