Hospitals need to do a better job of encrypting patient data to address the spiraling scale of security breaches, concludes a new report from healthcare IT security company Redspin. The report also notes that healthcare organizations need to bridge the gap between the demand from doctors and nurses using their own devices in the workplace (BYOD) and enacting the necessary security measures to ensure patient information contained on those devices is protected if they are lost or stolen.
The Secret Service is urging U.S. lawmakers to do more to prevent the cyber thefts similar to those that have recently hit Target Corp and other major retailers. According to William Noonan, a top agent with the Secret Service’s cyber operations branch, “Legislative action could help to improve the nation’s cybersecurity, reduce regulatory costs on U.S. companies, and strengthen law enforcement’s ability to conduct effective investigations.”
Governments and corporations are facing considerable risk to their data, their underlying networks and the reliability of their products because of a confluence of three factors.
While American shoppers say they are very concerned about the safety of their personal information following the massive security breach at Target, many aren’t taking steps to ensure their data is secure. Just 37 percent of surveyed consumers have tried to use cash for purchases rather than pay with plastic, and only 41 percent have checked their credit reports. Even fewer have changed their online passwords at retailers’ websites, requested new credit or debit card numbers, or signed up for a credit monitoring service.
Citing the Target data breach, Senator Leahy of Vermont reintroduced the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, which would "establish a national standard for data breach notification, and require American businesses that collect and store consumers’ sensitive personal information to safeguard that information from cyber threats."
A Utah law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against Target, alleging the retailer owes no less than $5 million in damages for its recent data breach.
