TTA Archives 2005-2012

Now a new reason to fear data breaches [TA 10 Aug]. Not just patient information is for sale. Hackers got into medical records of a small surgical practice in Libertyville, Illinois via their server storing emails and EMRs. In this case, the hackers ‘kidnapped’ patient information by encrypting the records, blocking them from use by the practice, and then posting a digital ransom note demanding money for the password. The practice doctors turned off the server and alerted authorities, although the article is unclear on the outcome for the practice with the patient data. Even though medical data blackmail has been so far a ‘niche crime’, security experts believe, according to the article, that with the greater prevalence of EHRs, cloud computing and the upcoming health insurance exchanges, that niche will become a lot more attractive to criminals. Hackers Steal, Encrypt Health Records and Hold Data for Ransom (Bloomberg Tech Blog)