Category Archives: Health Care

Cyber insurance premiums rise as ransomware, hacks continue, GAO finds

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A growing number of cybersecurity incidents has led many insurers to raise premiums and some to limit coverage in especially risky areas, such as health care and education, according to new findings from a U.S. government watchdog. “[T]he continually increasing frequency and severity of cyberattacks, especially ransomware attacks, have led insurers to reduce cyber coverage limits for certain riskier industry sectors … and for public entities and to add specific limits on ransomware coverage,” the Government Accountability Office said in a report Thursday, which cited surveys of insurance executives. More than half of the brokers surveyed by an industry group said that their clients saw premiums increase between 10% and 30% in late 2020, the report noted. The findings come amid a period of unprecedented scrutiny for the cyber insurance industry, as multimillion-dollar ransoms come to light and cybercriminals appear to target insurers for a list of their clients to […]

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Ransomware Susceptibility Index Spells Trouble for Pharma

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Take heed, pharmaceutical manufacturers – 10% of you are at high risk of suffering a ransomware attack. It may come as no surprise that you’re in the crosshairs of attackers; any organization in health care or the medical field, especially the c… Continue reading Ransomware Susceptibility Index Spells Trouble for Pharma→

‘Cybersecurity incident’ hampers non-urgent care at hospitals in New Zealand

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Health officials in New Zealand have for multiple days been dealing with a “cybersecurity incident” that has hindered non-urgent care at multiple hospitals south of the capital of Auckland. Local media are reporting that ransomware is the cause. The IT systems of Waikato District Health Board, which oversees health services for 425,000 people on New Zealand’s North Island, have been offline as government cyber officials investigate the cause of the incident.  The investigation is ongoing, “but [we] are working on the theory that the initial incursion was via an email attachment,” the health board said in statement Wednesday. Emergency care continues, but the disruption has caused some elective surgeries to be postponed at one of the health board’s facilities, Waikato Hospital, “while a number of outpatient clinics have been reduced,” the board said. Some of the outpatient clinics that have been affected include those dealing with respiratory illness and infectious […]

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Irish officials warn of ongoing disruptions to health system, long recovery following ransomware incident

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Irish officials say it will take “many weeks” to fully restore the IT infrastructure of the country’s $25 billion public health system following a ransomware attack last week. While emergency departments continue to operate normally, Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE), as the public health  system is known, said Wednesday that patients seeking non-urgent care should expect long delays. “Work continues today in assessing the impact and beginning to restore HSE IT systems,” the statement said. “This work will take many weeks and we anticipate major disruption will continue due to the shutdown of our IT systems. We should start to see some early signs of recovery in some sites over the coming days.” The incident, which Irish officials have blamed on a popular strain of ransomware called Conti, has rocked the Irish public health system. One maternity hospital in Dublin told pregnant women not to come to the hospital unless they […]

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Irish Prime Minister says government won’t pay ransom after hack forces hospitals to alter services

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Ireland’s public health care system on Friday shut down its IT systems in response to what it called a “criminal ransomware attack.” Emergency departments have continued to operate normally, but health officials said in a statement Monday that they were working to get computer systems supporting maternity, infant care and radiology back online. The ransomware intrusion at Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE), the $25 billion public health system, has forced hospitals in various parts of Ireland to alter their services. In some cases, hospital staffers say they have been in touch with pregnant women and encouraged them to not come to the hospital unless they are near their due date. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin has said the government will not pay a ransom. ‘We’re very clear we will not be paying any ransom or engaging in any of that sort of stuff’ Taoiseach @MichealMartinTD says of the ransomware attack […]

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Ransomware Attack Disrupts Scripps Health

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A ransomware attack against Scripps Health in San Diego over the weekend underscores the potentially dangerous impact cyberattack incidents can wreak on health care providers. “Showing just how low cybercriminals will go, the attack on a major healthc… Continue reading Ransomware Attack Disrupts Scripps Health→

Hackers disrupt networks at San Diego medical provider, Kansas organ transplant facilitator

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A pair of hacks at health care organizations revealed in recent days highlights the enduring cybercriminal threat to the sector as the U.S. makes progress in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Scripps Health, a San Diego-based nonprofit system with five hospital campuses, on May 1 said that it had suspended access to IT applications that support its health care facilities following a “security incident.” The incident forced Scripps to reschedule some patient appointments for Saturday and Monday, but “patient care continues to be delivered safely and effectively at our facilities,” the nonprofit said in a statement on its Facebook page. (Scripps’ website was still down by press time on Tuesday morning.) Meanwhile, Midwest Transplant Network, a Kansas-based organization that connects organ donors with recipients, said it had been working to determine if patients’ personal health data had been affected by a recent breach. NPR affiliate KCUR reported that some 17,000 people […]

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Securing Health Care Transformation

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The recent explosion of telemedicine and patient portals signals that the healthcare industry has begun to truly prioritize digital-first business models for patient and clinical interactions. One AmWell study found that in 2020, 80% of physicians rep… Continue reading Securing Health Care Transformation→

What’s Next for Connected Devices in Health Care?

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According to a Deloitte study, approximately 68% of medical devices will be either connected or connectable to a health system network by 2025. Each of those devices simultaneously represents an opportunity for health care providers to transform the d… Continue reading What’s Next for Connected Devices in Health Care?→

Securing Remote Health Care Post-COVID-19

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The global pandemic has accelerated technology trends across several industries, and health care is no exception. As social distancing increases, telehealth and remote patient monitoring are becoming increasingly common. According to the CDC, teleheal… Continue reading Securing Remote Health Care Post-COVID-19→