Does HIPAA Apply to Schools?
In most cases, HIPAA is not applicable to education institution as they are not deemed HIPAA covered entities, but in some instances a school can be classified as a covered entity if healthcare services are given to students. At such times, HIPAA may still not apply because any student health information obtained would be included in the students’ education records and education records are not governed by the HIPAA Privacy Rule as...
Florida and Texas Healthcare Providers Report Ransomware Attacks
One of the most recent developments in the world of cyber crime to the tactic of threat actors to deploy ransomware to encrypt files to stop data access, but also to obtain data and threaten to publish or sell on the stolen data if the huge ransom demands are not met. This new tactic aims at growing the chance of finding victims paying the ransom. The Center for Facial Restoration in Miramar, FL, is one of the biggest healthcare...
DHS: Citrix Vulnerability Being Exploited Still
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released an alert in relation to a recently discovered flaw in the Citrix Application Delivery Controller and Citrix Gateway web server appliances. The vulnerability, referred to as CVE-2019-19781, can be exploited via the internet and can make remote execution of arbitrary code on vulnerable appliances possible. The flaw, when exploited,...
False Allegations of HIPAA Violations Result in Georgia Man Being Charged
Following the discover of a complex scheme to set up an acquaintance in relation to breaches violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a Georgia man has been charged. The man in question, 43-year-old Jeffrey Parker, claimed that he was a whistleblower reporting HIPAA breaches committed by a nurse.Mr Parker made the breaches known to the hospital where the person was employed, and official...
Can Gmail be HIPAA Compliant?
In order for Gmail to be deemed HIPAA compliant, Google would have to see to it that the email service is 100% safe and satisfies the basic standards for security as stated in the HIPAA Security Rule. A covered entity would also be obligated to complete a business associate agreement with Google that incorporates Gmail, as Google would be deemed a business associate under the auspices of HIPAA. While encryption for email is not an...