Hospitals & Medical Centers

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Dogs have become an integral part of many people’s lives, not just as companions, but also as guide dogs, search-and-rescue dogs, and bomb- or drug-sniffing dogs, such as the ones used last month for Super Bowl security. Police forces in major cities use police dogs to track criminals, sniff out illegal materials, search buildings, and do other jobs human police officers can’t do as well as a dog can.

Counterterrorist operatives perform drills on securing and neutralizing threats at major target areas. Although this is an extremely important concept to master, often ignored is one of the most important components in community disaster preparedness: the local area hospital.

Washington state has flunked its disaster preparedness test. According to the American College of Emergency Physicians’ State-by-State Report Card, Washington state received an overall grade of “D+” and an “F” in disaster preparedness.

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.

A new medication tracking system is hoped to alleviate the gray market that thrives through diverting medications, as some hospitals and clinics (facing recent drug shortages) have turned to middle-men brokers. However, this increases the risk of counterfeit or unsafe drugs being administered to patients, FDA officials say. Counterfeit or altered medications can be diluted, inert or dangerous.

A top HealthCare.gov security officer told Congress that the Obamacare website passed security testing in December.

The Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report reveals that threats designed to take advantage of users’ trust in systems, applications and personal networks have reached startling levels.

The University of Nevada, Reno is establishing a Cyber Security Center.