{"id":5087,"date":"2012-09-04T16:30:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T20:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.carecloud.com\/?p=5087"},"modified":"2012-09-04T16:30:01","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T20:30:01","slug":"records-for-ransom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/records-for-ransom\/","title":{"rendered":"Records for Ransom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Data thieves break into a small-town doctor\u2019s system. They use advanced hacking methods to not only gain access to the healthcare information inside it but make that data completely inaccessible for the provider. They steal the protected health information of the physicians\u2019 patients, encrypt it, and post an electronic ransom note demanding that the doctor pay up<\/strong> to get the data back.<\/p>\n

Gripping, right? It sounds like the plot of an action movie. I\u2019d watch that.<\/p>\n

But if the above scenario were to play out in movie form, the first words on big screens in theaters would be \u2018Based on a True Story,\u2019 because the tale of \u2018Electronic Medical Records for Ransom\u2019\u00a0actually took place earlier this year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What healthcare provider was victimized by these bold digital attackers<\/strong>? A small medical practice in affluent, suburban Libertyville, Illinois called The Surgeons of Lake County.<\/p>\n

Health data breaches happen often, in small practices as well as in large healthcare organizations and hospitals. But it’s usually only the\u00a0big \u2018hack attacks\u2019<\/a>\u00a0that make news rounds due to the huge numbers of patients that get affected (and the federal requirement that providers publicly report all breaches affecting more than 500 people).<\/p>\n

Thus it\u2019s only the sheer audacity of the data thieves in Illinois that makes this story noteworthy. Many providers across the U.S. are employing inadequate security measures, meaning\u00a0breaches of small-provider PHI<\/strong>\u00a0are more frequent.<\/p>\n

For decades, the lack of technology in medical practices was what made them such an easy target for data thieves. Walking out of a doctor\u2019s office with a patient\u2019s private data was as easy as tucking a manila-folder chart into your briefcase.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, though, it\u2019s insecure technology, coupled with its poor utilization, that allows data breaches to happen. The thieves in Illinois managed to extract the PHI from the physicians\u2019 insecure, poorly protected system \u2013 described in media reports as\u00a0a server within the computer network<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and encrypt the data.<\/p>\n

The truth is, encryption should have happened on the opposite end. The Surgeons of Lake County took inadequate security measures, which ultimately left them vulnerable to attack<\/strong> \u2013 possibly because of the scant protections of an archaic client-server software system.<\/p>\n

When it comes to security, the cloud can be the answer. CareCloud secures data with 256-bit SSL file encryption \u2013 twice the level mandated by the government. That\u2019s\u00a0double<\/em>\u00a0protection from unauthorized retrieval, which makes patient data hard to steal and even harder to hold out for ransom. None of the providers on CareCloud\u2019s network, which spans over 30 U.S. states, has had their data compromised.<\/p>\n

Healthcare data security should be simple<\/strong>. Doctors should take the smartest protection measures available to them to keep their patients\u2019 data safe. Dramatic events involving stolen records, hacked servers, and ransom notes shouldn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n

At CareCloud<\/a>, security doesn\u2019t sound like a movie plot. For us, security is a snoozer, and we like it that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Data thieves break into a small-town doctor\u2019s system. They use advanced hacking methods to not only gain access to the healthcare information inside it but make that data completely inaccessible for the provider. They steal the protected health information of the physicians\u2019 patients, encrypt it, and post an electronic ransom note demanding that the doctor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth"],"yoast_head":"\nElectronic Medical Records (EHRs) for Ransom - Continuum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The tale of \u2018Electronic Medical Records (EHRs) for Ransom\u2019 actually took place earlier this year...but shouldn't have. 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