This week in health IT news, cybersecurity remains at the forefront as the FBI addresses growing concerns around cyber crimes as they begin targeting distributed networks. Ransomware attacks continue to make headlines as well – this time at a practice in Austin, Texas. And in the midst of cyber concerns, app development is said to have gained popularity within healthcare organizations due to the ease and speed of development and deployment. Continue reading this week’s roundup for the latest in health IT news.
FBI Warns of Criminals Targeting Healthcare Servers
Is your healthcare organization currently operating on a secure server? If not, it should be. Just this week, the FBI warned healthcare organizations of cybercriminals targeting unsecured servers to launch coordinated cyberattacks and using stolen patient information to blackmail providers. Transferring data over unsecured networks has left healthcare institutions vulnerable to criminals that access protected health information and personally identifiable information “for the purposes of intimidating, harassing, and blackmailing business owners,” according to a private industry notification (PDF) issued by the FBI. Read the full story here.
Cyberattacks too Big to Tackle Alone
According to FBI Director James Comey, cyberattacks and other privacy and security threats are coming too fast and are too big and widespread for anyone—even the FBI—to address alone. The data gathered from electronic health records has been called a “treasure trove” of information for cyber criminals, with criminal activity only expected to become more sophisticated, as it reaches centralized systems that are harder to secure such as hospital’s distributed networks. Read the full story here.
Ransomware Attack on Austin-based Practice
Ransomware has been popping up more and more in the news these days and just last week another healthcare organization – Urology Austin – began notifying patients that hackers may have accessed patient records that included names, dates of birth, addresses, medical information and Social Security numbers via a ransomware attack. Urology Austin was able to restore the patient data from backups and did not end up paying the ransom. You can read the full story here.
App Development Gains Popularity for Healthcare Organizations
According to HIT Infrastructure news, low-code application development platforms are gaining popularity in the healthcare industry as clinicians are becoming more mobile and demand applications. Part of the momentum for healthcare organization adopting apps is that they are developed at a much faster rate because they don’t need to be built from the ground up, allowing organizations to develop and deploy them quicker. You can read the full story here.
