Blog
Stay up to date in new trends in IT and cyber security. Have an interesting topic you'd like our thoughts on? Get in touch with us today!
What’s the Breach Notification Rule for HIPAA?
Timing is Everything Like most things in healthcare, timing is essential. You need to think quickly and act swiftly during a time when your head might not be set and sorted to do so. And again, like our own health, preparation today can allow for survival and a healthy outcome...
How do people get hacked?
The 2016 State of SMB Cybersecurity Report revealed that half (14 million) of the 28 million small businesses in the U.S. had been hacked by cybercriminals, but why? According to a CNBC survey of 2,000 small-business owners, small businesses are not spending enough on cybersecurity. With human-error being the most...
Ransomware Victims – Could Your Actions Be Illegal?
What we do know for certain is that this week, the government took a stand when it came to another type of criminal behavior, and it was with the ransoms issued by hackers. On October 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued...
Are Your Smart Appliances Spying On You?
By getting the latest and greatest, are we inadvertently putting a spy in our home? Do smart appliances have the ability to hear and see what we are doing? The answer is a little complex, but there are aspects of these devices that all consumers should be aware of. First,...
Cybercriminals in Disguise: Are you a victim of Business Email Compromise (BEC)?
Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams have been growing in popularity for some time now. If you’re not familiar with BEC, it’s when a fraudulent email is sent to a company or individual, and the email appears to be from a legitimate business resource or person, often varying from the legitimate...
Working from home? It’s never too late to evaluate!
While you might still use the dining room or coffee table as a desk, the physical setup is not as important as the setup of things not easily seen at first sight. Cybersecurity needs to be top-notch and if you haven't addressed it yet, now is the time. There are...
Hovering (over links) is your best secret weapon!
At times, it feels as if we could start every week with this sentence: "There's a new tactic being used by cybercriminals to trick unsuspecting victims." And the sophistication level of the new tactics is off the charts. So, what are we dealing with as of late? Well, where should...
Cybercriminals are Businesspeople too!
“This pandemic is great for my business!” said very few people. Unless you’re a hacker. And then it’s likely that business is booming. These organizations are well organized and structured businesses that thrive – or fail – within their own economies. That means that supply and demand dictate prices and...
STOLEN: Laptop Worth $1M!
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently closed an investigation into Lifespan Health System Affiliated Covered Entity for a stolen laptop incident reported back in 2017. That laptop contained…ready for this? …20,431 individual patient records that all contained protected health information (PHI). And it wasn’t encrypted. HAD it been...
Fact or Fiction: Pandemic Phishing is on the Rise
With the onset of COVID-19, there were a plethora of new opportunities for cybercriminals to take advantage of our uncertainties, fears, and overall lack of knowledge about this virus and how it was spreading. What we are finding is that malicious activity is spreading just as fast. Collectively, we are...
New Scam Targeting Medical Entities that Your SPAM Filter will NOT Stop!
The Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent out a warning that fraudulent postcards are being sent out, addressed to HIPAA Privacy and Security Officers with false information and instructions. These postcards are being sent to healthcare organizations and are disguised as an “official...
Don’t Forget About Me!
Remember your MySpace account? Or when your significant other wanted you to create a TikTok account so that you could make fun videos – which happened once, and you realized you would never do THAT again. These accounts are all your identities floating around in cyberspace, waiting to be rediscovered...