New Data Breach Violates HIPAA Compliance

As reported by Business Wire, the company GenRx Pharmacy experienced a data breach in September and is notifying individuals of the incident.

The company reports that “On September 28, 2020, the pharmacy found evidence of ransomware on its system and immediately began an investigation, including hiring independent information security and technology experts to assist with incident response and forensic investigation.” They also found that ransomware had originally been deployed on their system on September 27, 2020.

GenRx Pharmacy says that it discovered that a small number of files were removed. These files included the health information of former patients, including names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, genders, allergies, medications, health plans, and prescriptions. Social security numbers and financial information about patients were not affected.

Are Your Systems Protected?

Business Wire reports that, “the pharmacy has upgraded its firewall firmware, added additional anti-virus and web-filtering software, instituted multifactor authentication, increased Wi-Fi network traffic monitoring, provided additional training to employees, updated internal policies and procedures, and installed real-time intrusion detection and response software on all workstations and servers that access the company network. The pharmacy is also assessing further options to enhance its protocols and controls, technology, and training, including strengthening encryption. Additionally, the pharmacy is notifying applicable state and federal regulatory authorities as well as the three largest nationwide consumer reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – of the incident.”

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 137,000 GenRx patients are being informed about the incident via mailed letters, which will include further information.

GenRx is among many companies who have experienced data security breaches in recent years. Regardless of how secure you believe your current system is, hacking methods are always evolving. Let RxTechnology help you develop a plan to keep your data safe and, in the event of a data breach, help you recover.

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