MIS Healthcare Information Systems

May of 2017, hackers from WannaCry ransom-ware had exploited vulnerabilities in the UK's National Health Service system. WannaCry installed a malicious virus which caused a huge disturbance in the healthcare system. Nearly 50 NHS Trusts were affected resulting in cancelled appointments. Approximately 600 Surgeries across the UK were impacted, causing 5 hospitals to divert ambulances to other locations, and canceling 19,500 appointments. This attack did have a large impact on the operation, but was mitigated quickly, causing less damage than what could've happened. With standard Cyber security procedures and protocols, this event could have been avoided. Morse issued a warning, saying, “The Department [of Health] and the NHS need to get their act together to ensure the NHS is better protected against future attacks.” Currently a fundraiser is taking place to raise money for UK to build up their security. Approximately,  £ 20 million has been set aside to help prevent such in...

2017 has been a busy year for HIPAA and security analysts as the year ends with a large number of data breaches. October has been reported to have 27 data breaches which resulted in about 71,377 thefts or exposures. October is reported to have the least amount of breaches, the highest being September. Main targets have been the healthcare providers where in October, 19 breaches were reported.There were six data breaches reported by health plans and at least two incidents involved business associates of HIPAA-covered entities. Main causes of these incidents in October were the result of unauthorized access. 14 breaches were reported to be unauthorized access, 8 hacking incidents and 4 theft cases, and 1 non-encrypted hardware loss. Breaches in October were reported between 22 states, highest reported state is Florida with 3 breaches. Other states included in the breaches are: Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisian...

Medical quality varies from what we get in the United States versus our neighbors such as Canada. If the United States and Canada can agree one thing, it’s that neither countries want the others system. Canada who practices a single payer system while the US follows who ever can afford the care. The United States has the capabilities of providing the world’s best care with the technology we have and the innovation that is around us, Canada has the same capacities but the difference comes in the cost and how that treatment is given. Quality between the two nations is significant. It is a misconception that in Canada has waitlists for all sorts of medical attention. In some capacity that is true, just like in the United States. Many US citizens are having to cross the border to Canada to receive a treatment at a much less cost and a much better quality. Canada in the recent years has become one of the countries that is at the bottom of the list for quick access to a healthcare provide...

Phishing sites have become a major issue, especially since the number of these sites is growing rapidly. Webroot reported in December 2016 that there are more than 13,000 new phishing sites created every day, nearly 390,000 each each month. By the third quarter of 2017, the number of phishing sites grew by more than 46,000 per day, roughly 1,385,000 per month. On average a phishing site can be up and running anywhere from 4-6 hours before it is blacklisted. To fight this, companies need to create a better way to detect phishing sites. Although 4-6 hours is a short time, these sites can capture thousands of credentials before being shutdown. Not only do these sites show a high success rate, they also contain SSL Certificates; this "ensures" the end user that the site is safe. Phishing sites do user their own domains, however DUO showed that many legitimate sites are being compromised and phishing kits are being loaded onto them. The study identified more than 3,200 unique fis...

Security has always been an issue. Recently personal health records have become a target to hackers. HIPAA compliance is now enforcing to limit these hacks which are mainly targeted through mobile devices. Due to the rise in mobile medical practice such as Apple Watch, Fitbit, and other methods to track ones medical information, these devices are easily hackable. Laptops are another potential because of the access a patient can have to their online medical records. Between January 2015 and October 2017, there have been 71 reported breaches which involved laptops, smartphones, tablets and portable storage. These breaches have exposed nearly 1,303,760 patient information including plan numbers and records.  The table below shows the impacted organizations and the penalty that was handed down for failing to comply with HIPAA. Covered Entity HIPAA Violation Individuals Impacted Penalty Children’s Medical Center of Dallas Theft of unencrypted devices 6,262 $3.2 million Oregon Healt...