Help Me With HIPAA

Our commitment to include #BeCyberSmart each week this month did not anticipate that OCR would set a record for resolution announcements in September. This week we give you info to plan for next week's activities for NCSAM plus a review of the Athens Orthopedic resolution agreement. A lot to cover! More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/275

The first week of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) 2020 is next week. The theme: If You Connect It, Protect It. How can you use it in your organization? We cover that plus OCR's 5 resolutions in one announcement reiterating their commitment to patient access rights. For more info: HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/274

We missed the boat on National Insider Threat Awareness month in Sept: Insider Threat Mitigation but we are not going to miss NCSAM this year. Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart and If You Connect It, Protect It. are going to be all over the place here in October. More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/273

There is so much going on right now it is hard to keep up. I know there is a lot of activity when we can't keep an eye on everything! There are several stories that I think we should all be aware of but the big headline one is about HIPAA changes coming in 2020. However, it isn't the only one about changes that you should be aware of also. More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/272

This episode is the continuation of our Cybersecurity Tales Part 1 last week. We get into more discussions about real world cases involving cyber attacks the team at Black Talon have been called for data breach response. This part is where David really started getting scared! More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/271

Recently we talked with Gary Salman, CEO of Black Talon Security . Our discussion was lively and full of great stories and tips. There was so much there we decided to break this into two episodes. This is part 1 and next week we will share part 2. Let's get started on cybersecurity tales! More at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/270

After teaching our 3-day HIPAA Boot Camp we were pretty exhausted. In this episode we are discussing the interesting things David found when reading articles about cybersecurity myths.  More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/269

Today we are going to cover what we expected to see start happening after the rush to convert us all to work from home. The discussions about our concern that no one was paying attention except the criminals is starting to come to fruition.  More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/268

Everywhere we turn this year we are dealing with chaos and stress. Can we all just sing Kumbaya and make it go away? If it was only that easy.   Just because craziness has happened doesn't mean HIPAA goes out the window. As we all try to navigate the unknown we can not forget that the criminals thrive on chaos like this. If you aren't protecting your information a data breach becomes almost inevit...

These new settlements from OCR should be new required reading. There is very little guessing about their expectations in these CAPs. Specifically mentioning encryption requirements and mobile device management is not ambiguous at all. Things are getting real folks! More info at HelpMeWithHIPAA.com/266

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