Many businesses have benefitted from the proliferation of mobile devices and text messaging apps that facilitate quick, round-the-clock communications. However, these technologies can make it difficult to monitor and control the unauthorized distribution of confidential data. This is critically important in highly regulated industries like banking. To give you an idea of how messaging apps have caused headaches for banks, on March 30, UK...

A ransomware attack on a Texas urology practice that could potentially affect nearly 280,000 patients ranks as one of the largest health data breaches of 2017. On January 22nd Urology Austin, suffered a ransomware attack that encrypted data stored on its servers. Among the information impacted by the ransomware were names, addresses, birthdates, SSN’s, and medical information. Their mitigation effort included restoring data from backups and...

Don’t pick up the phone to answer calls from unknown numbers. Instead, let them go to voicemail. While many of us do that anyway, that’s now the FCC’s advice to all Americans in response to an ongoing series of attacks designed to trick victims into uttering a single word. According to a March 27th alert, this scam centers on tricking victims into saying the word “yes,” which criminals record and later use to attempt to...

HHS Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is now completing reports of audits performed in 2016 and distributing reports. Once the report is received, organizations have 10 days to respond. The following is an overview of a small clinic that was subject to a Privacy Audit by the OCR. This was a desk audit, meaning that the auditors did not come on-site and all information was provided to the OCR by uploading documents to a portal. While a desk audit...

On March 6th, the Silicon Valley firm, Coupa, fell victim to a phishing attack that compromised the personal information of employees who worked for them in 2016. A scammer impersonated the company’s CEO and requested that payroll information (Form W-2) for the 2016 tax year be sent via email. Fraudsters continue to increase the number of W-2 phishing scams, also known as business email compromise – BEC – or CEO fraud attacks. These...

In 2016 the number of reported data breaches in the U.S. increased by 40% over 2015 levels. Worryingly, more than half of data breaches resulted in the exposure of Social Security numbers, increasing the risk of identity theft. 72 percent of breached records were exposed due to hacking, skimming or spear-phishing attacks. This continues a drastic increase in those type of attacks since 2009 when they first became the leading cause of breaches....

Reversing the position taken in May 2016, The Joint Commission (TJC) recently clarified that licensed independent providers (LIPs) or other practitioners may not use secure text messaging platforms to transmit patient care orders. TJC’s earlier position said that use of secure text messaging platforms was an acceptable method to transmit such orders, provided that the use was in accordance with professional standards of practice, law and...

Why are hacked healthcare records so valuable? It’s because they can be combined with other information to create a complete identity kit. Make no mistake—in most cases the stolen health information is the foundation of a counterfeit identity. That is why health records are so valuable to criminal groups around the world. Stolen patient records often end up for sale on the deep web as part of information packages called “fullz” and “identity kits” that can be used by fraudsters to commit a wide variety of crimes.

In the wake of this week’s rollout by NACHA, The Electronic Payments Association, of same-day ACH payments in the U.S., fraud departments at originating and receiving banks should be bracing for the new risks posed by faster payments. Developing robust anti-fraud procedures is even more critical now, as same-day ACH is the first step toward the move to real-time payments over the course of the next two years.

Most bankers probably don’t give the webcam at the top of their computer or laptop a second thought. That needs to change. If you don’t believe me, believe FBI Director James Comey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. They both cover theirs.