Cybersecurity

Researchers Found the Biggest Botnet Dedicated to Hidden Monero Mining

More than a half million Windows machines, mostly servers, have been zombified by Monero mining malware spread by a cyber gang that created the biggest mining botnet found to date. This botnet is called Smominru. Several security companies have released their research on this cyber group activity. It is a relatively new gang. Crooks started their operations not earlier than the previous year.

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Top 10 Reasons Why Security Software Fails

Present-day malware is groundbreaking enough to slip under the radar of traditional defenses. Cybercriminals have plenty of time and resources to test their perpetrating code extensively. The malicious code can then potentially circumvent regular detection mechanisms and raise no red flags for days on end.

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They All Ask for a Risk Assessment : Have You Completed Yours This Year?

Yes, they all ask for a risk assessment. If you, as a healthcare covered entity or a healthcare business associate, ever get audited by the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), or if you have already had the pleasure of being audited, you will know that one of the first things OCR will ask you for is a documented risk assessment or risk analysis (these terms are used interchangeably in this post).

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Healthcare Cybersecurity: How to Prevent a Complete Medical Meltdown

Falling victim to cybersecurity can happen to anyone at any given time – leaving your medical practice at risk for the safety of those whose case sensitive information have been stolen. Thus, it’s absolutely paramount that certain cybersecurity measures are put in place before you become the next healthcare cybersecurity risk.

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Ransomware Response Plan – Crucial for Every Organization

It is crucial to decide beforehand what the organization would do if it has contractual agreements to deliver vendor or client data, but it cannot do so because that data is encrypted. Some additional force majeure type clauses may have to be inserted in all the contracts if possible stating that if the organization is under Ransomware attack and the data is still encrypted; it will not be able to provide it.

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The Importance of a Ransomware Response Plan

Over the past three years, ransomware has come prominently into the limelight of the cyber threat scene, it is the fastest growing malware threat, and organizations have paid US$ 209 million in Q1 2016 through ransomware, FBI estimates US$ 1 billion losses in 2016 because of ransomware.

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Medical Practice Technical Risks – What Are They and How Can They Be Mitigated?

Explanation: A user identifier is typically a name or a number or a combination of numbers and characters put together to form a string of characters that uniquely identify a user. This unique user identifier allows the information system to track the activities that a user makes in the information system. This is done so that every user of the system can be held accountable for his/her functions performed on the information systems that have ePHI in it.

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Physical Risks in Medical Practice and Their Mitigation

In the event of an emergency, a well defined contingency plan helps the team to allow for data restoration in addition to providing physical security. A contingency plan is usually used when there is an emergency, for example when there is an outage. During the crisis it is important that the doctors still have access to ePHI so that the quality of care is not compromised.

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Understanding Administrative Risks in Medical Practice

The security of your practice’s ePHI might be at risk if your workforce members don’t comply with the standard security protocols, either due to the lack of awareness or due to the lack of training. Several factors that may contribute to such behavior may include:

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Managing Information Assurance Risks in Healthcare

There has been a tremendous explosion of information technology (IT) in healthcare caused by billions of dollars of government incentives for usage of digital healthcare tools. But, IT systems face threats with significant adverse impacts on institutional assets, patients, and partners if sensitive data is ever compromised.

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