Tag Archives: health care providers

In the wake of several executive orders on immigration, ICE—the federal agency responsible for enforcing the nation’s immigration laws—has ramped up enforcement activities. As a result, local public school districts and health care providers in Massachusetts have asked the Attorney General about their rights and obligations with respect to the undocumented students and patients they serve. On May 22, 2017, the AG issued comprehensive guidance to answer their questions.… More

Unfortunately, health care providers are the perfect mark for theft and extortion because they have huge amounts of sensitive information and maintain such information in computer databases at risk of infiltration. On May 17, Foley Hoag presented a webinar discussing the ongoing crime sprees involving theft of patients’ identities and health information; ransomware involved in these crimes; related data security issues affecting health care providers; and how they implicate law enforcement and the criminal law aspects of HIPAA.… More

Hospitals are increasingly the target of hackers, particularly in the form of “ransomware.”  What follows is a primer on ransomware and how to avoid being a target of it.

What is ransomware? 

Ransomware is a type of malware that limits users’ access to their computer systems. It functions by locking a user’s system and/or encrypting its files.… More