Privacy briefs: February 2018

◆ A ransomware attack at electronic medical records provider Allscripts wiped out access for 1,500 clients in January, and the EMR provider has been hit with a class action lawsuit as a result. The suit, filed by Surfside Non-Surgical Orthopedics, a sports medicine and pain practice in Boynton Beach, Fla., alleges that Allscripts knew of the problems before the ransomware hit. Allscripts was attacked by SamSam, a strain of ransomware that has been a known threat since early 2016, according to the lawsuit. Learn more about the attack and lawsuit at http://bit.ly/2EADuYq.

◆ Ransomware attacks at health care institutions increased by 89% last year over 2016, according to an analysis by cyber defense firm Cryptonite. There were 36 ransomware events reported to HHS’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in 2017, compared to 19 such events in 2016, the firm found. In 2017, ransomware events represented 25% of all events reported to OCR that were attributed to hacking, and all six of the largest hacking health care events in 2017 were attributed to ransomware. Cryptonite says it expects ransomware attacks to continue increasing in 2018 and 2019. Download the white paper at http://bit.ly/2BATneb.

This document is only available to subscribers. Please log in or purchase access.


Would you like to read this entire article?

If you already subscribe to this publication, just log in. If not, let us send you an email with a link that will allow you to read the entire article for free. Just complete the following form.

* required field