On October 25, 2024, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) published its October 2024 Cybersecurity Newsletter. The Newsletter provides valuable information on how to minimize cyber threats from “social engineering”, which is defined…
It seems like almost every other day, the national media reports on a new data breach. From large corporations to mom-and-pop local businesses, hackers do not discriminate on their targets. Small and mid-sized businesses like dental practices are often targeted…
In February 2024, the Change Healthcare cyberattack crippled healthcare and billing information operations nationwide. Investigations into the cyberattack have revealed evidence that the hack started when cybercriminals entered a server that lacked a basic form of security: multifactor authentication. Being…
On February 21, 2024, Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group and one of the largest healthcare technology companies in the United States, experienced a crippling ransomware cyberattack, considered to be the most serious incident of its kind against a…
Under the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s (HIPAA’s) Security Rule, covered entities, including most dental offices, are required to adopt adequate means for safeguarding the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of PHI. This includes conducting a security risk analysis…
Recently, there have been more and more reports about cyberattacks affecting businesses of all sizes nationwide. The latest one affecting the dental industry struck the American Dental Association (ADA) on April 22, 2022, when hackers targeted their networks, forcing the…
In the wake of the Russian attacks against Ukraine, the American Dental Association (ADA) published an article in ADA News advising dentists to be on alert for cyberattacks. This article follows a joint warning issued by the US Cybersecurity and…
In early May, a cybercriminal organization named Darkside used ransomware to paralyze the Colonial Pipeline Co., prompting a shutdown of the 5,500 mile pipeline that carries 45% of the fuel used on the East Coast. This quickly led to a…
Lately, we have been hearing more and more reports about cyberattacks affecting businesses of all sizes nationwide. This past summer, over 400 dental practices were affected by a ransomware cyberattack from a third party data company. Then, most recently, the American Dental Association…
In late August, over 400 dental practices were affected in a ransomware cyberattack against DDS Safe, a service from The Digital Dental Record that facilitates secure data backups for dental practice computer systems. Unfortunately, scenarios like this are becoming all too…
