According to a Bloomberg article, the second phase of HIPAA audits by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), originally set to commence in 2014, may be coming soon. This update came at a HIPAA conference co-hosted by OCR during which OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels said the agency was in the process of confirming contact
Information Risk
DoD Issues Interim Rule For Contractors on Incident Reporting and Cloud Computing Services
Government contractors have a wide range of unique challenges (find out more about these here), not the least of which is data security. A good example is the interim rule the Department of Defense (DoD) issued last month that implements sections of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2013 and 2015.…
Cancer Care Group to Pay $750,000 to Settle HIPAA Breach, as KPMG Finds 81 Percent of Hospitals and Health Insurance Companies had a Breach in the Past Two Years
On September 2, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) reported that it agreed to settle potential violations of the HIPAA privacy and security regulations with Cancer Care Group, Inc. The dollar amount of the settlement, $750,000, is significant, and the agreement to adopt a robust, multi-year corrective action plan under the watchful eye of the…
Nevada Updated Its Definition of Personal Information, Have You?
When businesses set out to safeguard “personal information,” a fundamental consideration is what that term means. Likewise, when negotiating a third-party vendor agreement, it typically is not enough to rely on the standard definition for “confidential information.” Recently, Nevada and other states have updated their definitions of personal information in connection data breaches notification and…
The Hololens From Microsoft – Help Can Be Right Under…Over Your Nose
The saying – never let them see you sweat – soon may be more difficult to accomplish with Microsoft’s Hololens. Like Google Glass, the Hololens is worn as a headset. But this device has a “plurality” of sensors that gather a range of biometrics parameters (heart rate, perspiration, etc.) which determine along with other…
Connecticut State Contractors, Health Insurance Industry Businesses Subject to Enhanced Significant Data Security Mandates
In June, Connecticut’s governor signed into law Senate Bill 949 which amended the State’s breach notification statute. The requirement that covered businesses must provide one year of identity theft protection services for certain breaches, easily the most popular aspect of the legislation, may have diverted attention from some significant aspects of this new law.…
State Attorneys General Tell Congress – Don’t Preempt Our Breach Notification Laws!
In the wake of recent, large-scale data breaches, one being the breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) affecting millions of federal employees, a number of bills have been battling their way through Congress to address breach notification and data security requirements at the federal level. There has been an ongoing pattern for years…
Courts Restrict Ability of Customers and Employees to Sue Companies Following a Data Breach, But Risks of Other Liabilities Remain
Among the multitude of unpleasant issues facing a company whose network has been breached is potential liability to customers and employees whose personal information has been compromised. However, recent district court decisions from around the country continue to limit the opportunity of those customers and employees to have their day in court. Specifically, these cases…
Connecticut Enacts SB 949 Requiring One Year of Free Identity Theft Protection Services For Certain Data Breaches
Senate Bill 949 is now law in Connecticut, after being signed by Governor Malloy on June 11. As we reported, this law amends the state’s current breach notification mandate to require that for breaches of certain personal information covered business must provide one year of free identity-theft protection for affected persons. So, beginning October…
Connecticut May Require Businesses to Offer One Year of Identity Theft Protection Services Following a Data Breach, Joining Other States in Strengthening Notification Laws
Following a string of states across the country that have strengthened their data breach notification laws in recent months, Connecticut is about to amend its law to require, among other things, that businesses provide one year of identity-theft protection for persons affected by the breach. Many businesses already extend such services to breach victims, but,…