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Saltzer Health Says Patient Data Exposed in Cyberattack

 

Saltzer Health, an Intermountain Healthcare company has recently witnessed a cyberattack. The company has started alarming its employees and patients about the breach and sent alerts informing them that their protected health information might have been compromised following a hack on a connected third party. 

According to the static data, the company operates 12 clinics and urgent care facilities in Boise, Caldwell, Meridian, and Nampa, Idaho. After the attack’s findings, the company issued a statement in which it stated that the attackers had access to the employee email account between May 25 and June 1, 2021. 

Also, during the investigation researchers discovered that the email account did contain personal data that was compromised during the period of unauthorized access. Compromised data includes names, contacts, driver’s license numbers, and state identification numbers, and, in some cases, social security numbers and financial account details. 

Additionally, medical information that has been compromised includes medical history, diagnosis, treatment details, physician information, and prescription medication information, along with health insurance information. All impacted individuals will receive two years of identity theft detection resolution services. 

While the company did not issue any statement on the number of affected personnel, the company told the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that 15,650 individuals’ data was potentially compromised during the hack. 

The company said that it has taken steps to mitigate the risk of data theft including resetting the affected email accounts passwords and also monitoring its systems for any suspicious activity. 

“Saltzer Health encourages all individuals to remain vigilant against incidents of identity theft and fraud by reviewing account statements and explanation of benefits, and monitoring free credit reports for suspicious activity,” the organization says.

Here's Why You Should Not Rely on a VPN Anymore

 

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are still used by millions of people to hide their activities on the internet by encrypting their location and web traffic. Over a period of time, advancement in technology brought changes in cybersecurity landscapes, thanks to the widespread use of encryption that has made public internet connections far less of a security threat, cybersecurity experts stated. 

Cybercriminals are less interested in attacking people’s individual devices and instead focus on the login credential to their most important accounts, experts said. For years, cybercrimes experts urged people not to use Wi-Fi hotspots at public places like coffee shops and stations without taking steps to obscure their internet traffic. For example, if you are sharing a Wi-Fi network with a stranger it means you essentially sharing all your traffic with him who was using it. If someone decides to check their Bank balance, for instance, they give an opportunity to a nearby hacker to steal important data. 

But VPNs provided net safety to this problem over the decades. VPN allows users to use the internet with enhanced security and privacy. It reroutes users’ internet traffic through their own servers and makes browsing more secure and private. It also helps users to stay secure when using public Wi-Fi connections. That can slow browsing speed, but hides the user’s Internet Protocol address and allows access to more internet sources. 

However, now most browsers have implemented (HTTPS) an extra layer of security that automatically encrypts internet traffic. Hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) is a secure version of HTTP, it is a protocol that is used for sending data between a web browser and a website. HTTPS is encrypted in order to secure data transfer. It becomes important when a user transmits important data, such as by logging into a bank account, email service, etc. 

More and more websites offer HTTPS connections such as Google, Brave, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. 

“Most commercial VPNs are snake oil from a security standpoint,” said Nicholas Weaver, a cybersecurity lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. “They don’t improve your security at all...” 

 “…Remember, someone attacking you at the coffee shop needs to be basically AT the coffee shop. I don’t know of them ever being used outside of pranks. And those are all irrelevant now with most sites using HTTPS,” he added.