Help Me With HIPAA

There are plenty of things happening that you should be aware of including a new settlement announcement from OCR . This and more things happening out there you should know about! More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/265

So happy that we are finally doing this show in time to remind you to use the free security awareness training resources available for October which is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM). There are a lot of free resources available to promote security awareness under that program released each year. Today we are discussing how to use these resources to  work out a plan for your trainin...

The threat of ransomware continues to be a major issue for all businesses. MSPs were a gateway for mass cyber attacks in 2019. Make sure your IT provider is using the new guide specifically for them produced by NIST and NCCoE: PROTECTING DATA FROM RANSOMWARE AND OTHER DATA LOSS EVENTS. While we are at it there are a couple of articles relating to ransomware's impact on insurance coverage that we n...

The annual Verizon data breach report was recently released for 2020. Learning from other's mistakes is always the best way to learn vs the alternatives. These reports always offer very specific details that we find very enlightening and helpful in making business decisions relating to security in all businesses. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/262

COVID-19 Testing vs HIPAA is starting to play out all over the country as businesses reopen and the virus continues to spread. Today we will discuss some of the confusion about all the COVID-19 testing and HIPAA. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/261

So far 2020 has the whole world turned upside down. A true global pandemic, global economic fallout still happening from a shutdown caused by the pandemic and a level of global social unrest that hasn't been seen in 40-50 years. Yes, it is overwhelming. But, it is also very clear that the criminal factors and nation-state attackers are well aware no one is watching the hen house too. More info at...

Too often our human selves will happily put off some responsibilities on others if we can find any small reason for doing so. It may not be our best quality but it is certainly one that bonds most of us together. I personally can't name anyone that would say sorry I would like to take responsibility for something I think is your responsibility. In our world today we all need to take responsibility...

If you are a fan of horror flicks you know the story. Even if you are not a fan you probably know the line from When A Stranger Calls:  "the calls are coming from a phone inside the house" .  That stuff happens in the opening. Personally, I have never made it through that part much less through the whole thing.  Today we have a whole new horror flick to discuss: cyberattacks coming from inside the...

Perfect timing rarely happens these days but we have been discussing updating incident response plans based on what we have learned in the last two months. In fact, we ended our last episode saying the response plan update is one of the most important things you should do. Like magic Erik Decker posts on LinkedIn this week that the HIC group has finished a new guide specifically about crisis respo...

We always know when serious stuff has happened behind the scenes and OCR got involved. Some major violations of privacy rights must have happened when we see the OCR notice reminding everyone that you can not share patient information with the media without authorization. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/256

We mentioned in the last episode that we would put together a checklist of sorts for what to do as everyone switches back to the old way of doing business or sets up under new remote models. While this isn't exactly a copy and paste checklist it does give you food for thought as to what to consider for your own reboot checklist. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/255

When can we stop talking about ransomware? Apparently, never. One of the things we can list as part of our "new normal" is new ways ransomware is going to be impacting us differently. Things are worse today than when we discussed ransomware just a couple of months ago. The pandemic has opened up so many ways for the criminals to attack they are having a field day. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/254

Like it or not we have to face new realities on our threat lists as we figure out our new normal in the post COVID-19 landscape. The privacy and security risks have changed just like everything else during the crisis. Threat lists used for your SRA must be updated and addressed. You do not want to be hit with data breaches and privacy breaches just as you get things back up and running, do you? Mo...

Before things went all COVID on us this episode was planned out. It may be even more worthy of an episode now. Have you been evaluating your MSPs response to your current state of business? We knew there were some MSP issues in 2019 but now, in 2020, you must have a reliable trusted MSP partner more than ever. What kinds of things do you need to know about your tech needs, your MSP and where you b...

So many scams and so little time to keep up with them.  Yes, that is what it feels like these days.  There are so many coronavirus scams we have to take some time to update you guys.  There have been cybercrime alerts and stupid people stories galore.  Here are the coronavirus scams and crimes we have on our radar this week.   More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/251

With the national crisis still in play, cybersecurity is essential to operating businesses which are now online more than ever before. Small businesses without any apps before are going online to survive. Telehealth, remote learning, telework are all standard right now.  With so much going on we are trying to keep our eye on cyber stories to prepare ourselves and our clients for what is happening...

There is a lot of confusion along the way as there always will be in a crisis like this one. We are going to share some of the good information and do our best to clear up some of the misinformation. No matter what, though, it could all change in the two short weeks between when we record this and when we publish it for you guys. Our plan is to provide as much solid information that we know to be...

We are all doing our best to focus on what we can do during this national crisis.  It is certain that we will bounce back at some point and be able to get back to business.  When we do this national reboot, what kinds of things will we need to do? Spend time now planning for the coming business reboot.  More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/248

In Oct 2019 another document was released by the Health Sector Coordinating Council Joint Cybersecurity Working Group.  Health Industry Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Guide or HIC SCRiM for short is aimed at helping small and medium sized healthcare organizations manage their supply chain vendors. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, we are reviewing it for you today.  If you d...

Opening the 2020 enforcement list for OCR is a doctor's office who reported a breach due to a business associate issue and then did nothing.  The settlement wasn't due to the BA but because the office had no SRA in place. Let's break down the settlement with Steven A. Porter, M.D ., P.C. a sole gastroenterologist practice in Ogden, UT. Time to learn from their mistakes. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com...

Does your SRA include something like COVID-19?  Your business continuity plans include it? Do you need an SRA that includes virus outbreaks? Yes, you do.  If your risk analysis didn't include these kinds of things you should revisit your method for doing an SRA. What should you do about this risk and what else is missing from your SRA? Let's talk about privacy, security and COVID-19. More info at...

Cybersecurity misconceptions are pretty common both in personal life and business.  There are definitely enough cases of misinformation coming through our offices on a regular basis to make it obvious just how confused people can be about what should be done.  We have pointed out many times that the government has been releasing information for years to assist both businesses and individuals. You...

This story has been going around since September 2019. Images exposed on the internet from PACS systems around the world available to anyone that wanted to see them.  Images exposed included x-rays, MRI scans and more. It still hasn't been locked down after all these months. That means it's time to talk about it instead of keeping it quiet. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/243

Another report comes out that says insiders are a huge problem.  You have to worry about the people, people. We have been saying this for years.  The lastest news on that front is in the 2020 Cost Of Insider Threats Global Report released by the Ponemon Institute and sponsored by ObserveIT and IBM.  It does tell us a lot of things we already knew but the details including those about how it is gro...

Wearables, medical devices and HIPAA are just some of the questions we have gotten recently.  Today's episode is privacy and security news plus listener questions. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/241