The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have announced an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers.  
 
CISA, FBI, and HHS have released AA20-302A Ransomware Activity Targeting the Healthcare and Public Health Sector that details both the threat and practices that healthcare organizations should continuously engage in to help manage the risk posed by ransomware and other cyber threats. The advisory references the joint CISA MS-ISAC Ransomware Guide that provides a ransomware response checklist that can serve as a ransomware-specific addendum to organization cyber incident response plans. 

It has been noted that hackers are using Ryuk ransomware — malicious software used to encrypt data and keep it locked up — and the Trickbot network of infected computers to steal data, disrupt health care services and extort money from health care facilities. Such data hijacking often cripples online systems, forcing many to pay up to millions of dollars to restore their services.

Find links and further documentation below

General cybersecurity guidance would suggest that Health IT breach should not be considered a matter of “if”, but rather a matter of “when”. How Health Centers prepare and respond to an episode of a breach is just as important as defending itself from the breach.

It is of critical importance to motivate and educate healthcare professionals on current critical privacy and security concepts and methods for defense of health data. Aspects of security awareness training, breach protection, incident response, and related topics all play a role toward organization-wide information protection. Healthcare cybersecurity is the ultimate team sport. The responsibility goes beyond the IT staff and includes front and back office staff, doctors and nurses, patients, executives, and the board of directors. The attached presentation is directed to all levels of the healthcare organization so that they may be proactive and aware.

The HIPAA Security Rule establishes the requirements for protection of electronic patient health information. The safeguards identified are made up of three domains that include administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that need to be addressed. The technical safeguards as defined within 45 CFR §164.312 of the HIPAA Security Rule can be some of the most difficult to comprehend and implement for smaller Health Centers with lower levels of IT and security staffing. Resources and tools that help Health Centers better process and implement these security requirements are much needed and require well-documented methods for planning and maintaining critical security controls.

This toolkit provides a framework for Health Centers to evaluate compliance and security concerns as they purchase, adopt, and implement technology solutions.

To successfully attest, providers must conduct a security risk assessment (SRA), implement updates as needed, and correctly identify security deficiencies. By conducting an SRA regularly, providers can identify and document potential threats and vulnerabilities related to data security, and develop a plan of action to mitigate them.

Is it acceptable/recommended for health centers to adopt the new password policy guidelines under NIST Special Publication 800-63B and will that still uphold the HIPAA security rule? This question had been posed to the HITEQ Center asking whether we had any guidance or recommendations on implementing the new NIST Guidelines regarding password security.  New Digital Identity Guidelines under NIST Special Publication 800-63-B presents new guidelines regarding password security that are much more user-friendly and consequently more likely to be observed by health center staff since constantly changing, complex password on multiple systems can be a source of frustration for the end user. 

Since 2010, the healthcare industry has seen a remarkable increase in the use of technology in the administration and delivery in healthcare. This has led to a mass migration of data from paper charts and isolated systems to Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and interconnected systems that transmit patient health and financial information across trusted and untrusted networks. While this has been a boon for the industry in its ability to provide timely information to those who need it the most, this transition has introduced a great deal of risk to the confidentiality and integrity of the information. Coupled with the fact that the information can be quickly monetized by criminals through insurance fraud and identity theft, the ecosystem is target-rich.

ONC hosted a webinar to launch the Health IT Privacy & Security Technology Learning Community. This learning community is exploring the ONC Security Risk Assessment (SRA) Tool. It is looking to leverage stakeholder expertise to help inform health care delivery system reform and advance the use of interoperable health IT to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare. The webinar was held on October 25 at 2pm ET.

There is not a recording available at the moment, but the link below will take users to a YouTube overview of SRA tool use.

A well-done security risk assessment (SRA) will identify security vulnerabilities across the breadth of a healthcare organization's health information systems. Factors will include policy, organizational and technical related requirements to privacy and security measures. ONC, in recognizing the complexity of this task for small to medium healthcare providers developed a toolkit to assist in conducting SRAs.

It is common practice today to encrypt data at rest, that is, data stored on servers. This is especially applicable to health centers who are less frequently actively transporting data across disparate networks. Like many smaller healthcare organizations, Health Centers are particularly vulnerable to potential attack and infiltration by data hackers for several reasons: they tend to have fewer technical support staff, resource limitations make it harder to assess, implement, and maintain safe data practices, and organizational inertia limits preventive action when no threat is perceived. 

In order to comply with the Security Rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), you need to maintain an ongoing security program. The HIPAA Security Rule mandates security standards to safeguard electronic protected health information (ePHI) maintained by electronic health record (EHR) technology, with detailed attention to how ePHI is stored, accessed, transmitted, and audited. This rule is different from the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which requires safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information (PHI) and sets limits and conditions on the use and disclosure of PHI. 

From the ONC YouTube website:

HIPAA requires practices to assess their PHI as part of their risk management process. Learn more about a risk assessment and how your practice can benefit.

Join Webex this Wednesday, November 16 at 1:00pm ET for a Security Risk Assessment (SRA) Tool webinar. This webinar will discuss the importance and unique considerations for cyberthreats in pediatric health care settings, followed by a SRA Tool walkthrough. The webinar will be recorded and made available after the event. Questions can be directed to can be directed to COCIT@aap.org.

It's time to reconsider your strategy if you still treat cyber risk as an annual project or initiative. Having a thorough ongoing program in place means that even in the worst-case scenario, you'll be ready to demonstrate that you did what was reasonable and appropriate to protect your systems and patient data. Nothing can guarantee that a cyberattack won't become a breach. Health Centers are a domain with a high potential for data breaches. As a result, it is crucial for health center leadership to adopt breach prevention strategies across their entire organization, as opposed to relegating it to the IT department. This learning collaborative will address health center breach mitigation tactics, operationalizing cybersecurity to better mitigate risks, telehealth risk management strategies, and incident response planning from a cybersecurity perspective.

This series will equip health centers and their staff to:  

1. Describe resources, frameworks, and methods for strategic implementation of cybersecurity infrastructure and services
2. Describe essential cybersecurity tools and services that can help decrease the risk of a data breach
3. Use best practices in cybersecurity when implementing modern telehealth tools and RPM initiatives
4. Adopt cybersecurity risk management paradigms and incident response planning templates.

This learning collaborative will provide participating health centers a series of four structured virtual learning sessions where they will engage with facilitators, subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion.

It's time to reconsider your strategy if you still treat cyber risk as an annual project or initiative. Having a thorough ongoing program in place means that even in the worst-case scenario, you'll be ready to demonstrate that you did what was reasonable and appropriate to protect your systems and patient data. Nothing can guarantee that a cyberattack won't become a breach. Health Centers are a domain with a high potential for data breaches. As a result, it is crucial for health center leadership to adopt breach prevention strategies across their entire organization, as opposed to relegating it to the IT department. This learning collaborative will address health center breach mitigation tactics, operationalizing cybersecurity to better mitigate risks, telehealth risk management strategies, and incident response planning from a cybersecurity perspective.

This series will equip health centers and their staff to:  

1. Describe resources, frameworks, and methods for strategic implementation of cybersecurity infrastructure and services
2. Describe essential cybersecurity tools and services that can help decrease the risk of a data breach
3. Use best practices in cybersecurity when implementing modern telehealth tools and RPM initiatives
4. Adopt cybersecurity risk management paradigms and incident response planning templates.

This learning collaborative will provide participating health centers a series of four structured virtual learning sessions where they will engage with facilitators, subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion.

It's time to reconsider your strategy if you still treat cyber risk as an annual project or initiative. Having a thorough ongoing program in place means that even in the worst-case scenario, you'll be ready to demonstrate that you did what was reasonable and appropriate to protect your systems and patient data. Nothing can guarantee that a cyberattack won't become a breach. Health Centers are a domain with a high potential for data breaches. As a result, it is crucial for health center leadership to adopt breach prevention strategies across their entire organization, as opposed to relegating it to the IT department. This learning collaborative will address health center breach mitigation tactics, operationalizing cybersecurity to better mitigate risks, telehealth risk management strategies, and incident response planning from a cybersecurity perspective.

This series will equip health centers and their staff to:  

1. Describe resources, frameworks, and methods for strategic implementation of cybersecurity infrastructure and services
2. Describe essential cybersecurity tools and services that can help decrease the risk of a data breach
3. Use best practices in cybersecurity when implementing modern telehealth tools and RPM initiatives
4. Adopt cybersecurity risk management paradigms and incident response planning templates.

This learning collaborative will provide participating health centers a series of four structured virtual learning sessions where they will engage with facilitators, subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion.

It's time to reconsider your strategy if you still treat cyber risk as an annual project or initiative. Having a thorough ongoing program in place means that even in the worst-case scenario, you'll be ready to demonstrate that you did what was reasonable and appropriate to protect your systems and patient data. Nothing can guarantee that a cyberattack won't become a breach. Health Centers are a domain with a high potential for data breaches. As a result, it is crucial for health center leadership to adopt breach prevention strategies across their entire organization, as opposed to relegating it to the IT department. This learning collaborative will address health center breach mitigation tactics, operationalizing cybersecurity to better mitigate risks, telehealth risk management strategies, and incident response planning from a cybersecurity perspective.

This series will equip health centers and their staff to:  

1. Describe resources, frameworks, and methods for strategic implementation of cybersecurity infrastructure and services
2. Describe essential cybersecurity tools and services that can help decrease the risk of a data breach
3. Use best practices in cybersecurity when implementing modern telehealth tools and RPM initiatives
4. Adopt cybersecurity risk management paradigms and incident response planning templates.

This learning collaborative will provide participating health centers a series of four structured virtual learning sessions where they will engage with facilitators, subject matter experts and their colleagues in peer-to-peer learning and discussion.

This two session roundtable series brought together CIOs, CISOs, and other IT leadership from health centers to discuss strategic investments in cybersecurity, including those that can leverage recent ARP funding but sustain beyond the coming years. Participants had the opportunity to connect with each other and subject matter experts about implementation, considerations, and the future of cybersecurity and data protection in health centers.

This two session roundtable series brought together CIOs, CISOs, and other IT leadership from health centers to discuss strategic investments in cybersecurity, including those that can leverage recent ARP funding but sustain beyond the coming years. Participants had the opportunity to connect with each other and subject matter experts about implementation, considerations, and the future of cybersecurity and data protection in health centers.