encryption

New HIPAA Guidance on Ransomware: OCR’s encryption “gold standard” is no longer “golden”

WyattLLP Cyber Security and Cyber Crime, Data Privacy & Security, HIPAA , , , , , ,

By Margaret Young Levi and Kathie McDonald-McClure

softwareRansomware encrypts a user’s data and denies access to that data until a ransom is paid. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has released new guidance to help health care entities better understand and respond to the ever-increasing threat of ransomware.  On July 11, 2016, HHS posted a blog entitled “Your Money or Your PHI: New Guidance on Ransomware.”  The HHS blog post includes a Fact Sheet for health care entities regarding ransomware.  This blog post highlights some of the more striking points in the OCR Fact Sheet and considerations for entities subject to HIPAA in addressing ransomware attacks.

Ransomware can cause harm beyond denying access to data.  The OCR Fact Sheet provides useful technical details about how ransomware malware works, and notes that data can be exfiltrated (i.e., transferred outside the computer network system).  Exfiltration can occur before or after the ransomware attack that encrypts the data.  It depends on the type of malware employed in the attack.  An April 2016 ransomware report from the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT) provides even more technical details about the types of ransomware currently in use.  The ICIT report states that advanced persistent threats (APTs) and other hackers interested in collecting confidential data use ransomware as a form of distraction while stealthily using other malware to exfiltrate data.

The use of ransomware has skyrocketed.  According to OCR, the number of ransomware attacks has risen steeply in the last year, from an average of 1,000 per day in 2015 to an average of 4,000 attacks daily since January 1, 2016, including some very public attacks on hospitals.  Hospitals and other health care providers are especially vulnerable to Continue reading →

Corporate Counsel magazine quotes Wyatt attorneys on changes to Tennessee data breach law

WyattLLP Cyber Security and Cyber Crime, Data Privacy & Security, Privacy & Security , , , ,

Kathie McDonald-McClure and Matt San Roman, members of Wyatt’s Data Privacy & Security Service Team, were recently interviewed for Corporate Counsel magazine.  The article, “Tennessee Enacted the Toughest Data Breach Law Yet,” addresses the new amendment to the Tennessee Identity Theft Deterrence Act of 1999.   The amendment, among other changes, may eliminate the “encryption safe harbor” rule (pending a legislative fix to other language that may keep it in).  Other states may follow suit if cybercriminals demonstrate ways around popular encryption methods.

Please note that the full text of the article is only available to subscribers.  To read our prior blog posts discussing the Tennessee amendment in more detail, click here and here.

A Single Stolen, Unencrypted Laptop Can Cost Entities Millions of Dollars

Margaret Young Levi Cyber Security and Cyber Crime, Data Privacy & Security, Privacy & Security , , , , , ,

laptop encryptionEarlier this week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced two, multimillion dollar settlements relating to “potential” privacy and security violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).  Both settlements stem from the entity’s reports to OCR of the thefts of unencrypted laptops containing electronic protected health information (ePHI) even though one of the laptops was password protected.

First, on March 16, 2016, OCR announced that North Memorial Health Care of Minnesota agreed to pay $1,550,000 to settle potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules after a laptop containing the ePHI of 9,497 individuals was stolen from the vehicle of one of its contractors in July 2011.

OCR’s subsequent investigation determined that North Memorial failed to enter into a business associate agreement with this contractor, as required under the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules.  The investigation also discovered that North Memorial failed to conduct an organization-wide risk analysis to address all of the risks and vulnerabilities to its ePHI.  OCR concluded Continue reading →