Privacy & Security

"There's an app for that" may be an effective marketing phrase, but don't expect hospital security officials to appreciate it. The proliferation of devices and the apps that drive them is one of healthcare's biggest security concerns.

Coalfire addresses how vulnerable electronic personal health information is to hacks, breaches and intrusions.

It turns out many healthcare organizations get more than a few things wrong about their information security frameworks.

By making patient privacy a top priority, West Virginia United Health System has tackled insider snooping head on using a variety of different strategies. It's already seen some marked success.

The threat from hackers affects all business, but healthcare providers face the additional threat of fines for failure to comply with HIPAA regulations. These fines are no mere speeding ticket.

Changing technology makes HIPAA a moving target. When handled correctly, however, it also serves as a business enabler.

HIPAA created many rules that protect the privacy of patients and ensure the security of healthcare data. But the law left a big loophole regarding third-party entities which legally have access to protected health information from organizations that are required to be HIPAA-compliant.

Some 45,000 people are getting HIPAA breach notification letters after a mental health provider failed to encrypt laptops containing medical data and Social Security numbers.

Healthcare industry, listen up: you're a prime target for cyberattacks. Just ask virtually every IT security expert out there. Or ask Anthem, who learned the hard way.

In what might be the biggest data breach ever reported, Anthem, the nation's second largest health insurer, is notifying as many as 80 million members that hackers penetrated its IT systems and swiped personal data.