[Med-privacy] security

[peter marshall]

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HACKERS BREAK INTO VA PRESCRIPTION DATABASE, DEMAND RANSOM
  On May 6th, the Virginia Department of Health Professions (DHP) =20
announced that an unauthorized message appeared on the DHP=EDs =20
Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) website. The program helps =20
doctors and pharmacies track the sale of powerful narcotics and =20
painkillers to help reduce the abuse and illegal sale of controlled =20
substances. The system contained 31.6 million prescription records as =20=

of January 1st. The message was from hackers who claimed to have broken =20=

into the pharmaceutical database and stolen prescription and patient =20
records. The hackers gave the state one-week to provide $10 million for =20=

the records, or they would sell access to the database to the highest =20=

bidder. State officials claimed that it was unclear whether the hackers =20=

actually had access to the records or not, but that a full =20
investigation was underway to determine who the hackers were. The PMP =20=

computer system was shut down since the data breach, but the data was =20=

backed up and files were secured. Despite the hacking, on May 19th =20
Virginia Senator Mark Warner held a conference in Richmond explaining =20=

the benefits of digitizing patient records. One benefit of digitizing =20=

records is that it would eliminate the need to do expensive tests =20
multiple times, because doctors would have access to the first test =20
through the digital record. However, Warner stressed that one of the =20
keys to the electronic records was to ensure security and privacy. =20
Coverage of Senator Warner=EDs conference may be found at =20
http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?=20
p=3DBlog&ContentRecord_id=3D2c4049c7-e87d-42fc-95aa-=20
ade06fbdbb8f&ContentType_id=3Dec227f31-cc52-4e56-87db-385a02e2bceb

  The DHP press release may be found at =20
http://www.dhp.state.va.us/misc_docs/Statement050609.pdf

  The May 14th DHP update may be found at =20
http://www.dhp.state.va.us/misc_docs/PMPQA51409.pdf

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<bold><fontfamily><param>Arial</param><bigger>HACKERS BREAK INTO VA
PRESCRIPTION DATABASE, DEMAND RANSOM=20

=
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r>
On May 6th, the Virginia Department of Health Professions (DHP)
announced that an unauthorized message appeared on the DHP=EDs
Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) website. The program helps
doctors and pharmacies track the sale of powerful narcotics and
painkillers to help reduce the abuse and illegal sale of controlled
substances. The system contained 31.6 million prescription records as
of January 1st. The message was from hackers who claimed to have
broken into the pharmaceutical database and stolen prescription and
patient records. The hackers gave the state one-week to provide $10
million for the records, or they would sell access to the database to
the highest bidder. State officials claimed that it was unclear
whether the hackers actually had access to the records or not, but
that a full investigation was underway to determine who the hackers
were. The PMP computer system was shut down since the data breach, but
the data was backed up and files were secured. Despite the hacking, on
May 19th Virginia Senator Mark Warner held a conference in Richmond
explaining the benefits of digitizing patient records. One benefit of
digitizing records is that it would eliminate the need to do expensive
tests multiple times, because doctors would have access to the first
test through the digital record. However, Warner stressed that one of
the keys to the electronic records was to ensure security and privacy.
Coverage of Senator Warner=EDs conference may be found at
=
</x-tad-smaller><color><param>0000,0000,EEEE</param><x-tad-smaller>http://=
warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=3DBlog&ContentRecord_id=3D2c4049c7-e8=
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 The DHP press release may be found at
=
</x-tad-smaller><color><param>0000,0000,EEEE</param><x-tad-smaller>http://=
www.dhp.state.va.us/misc_docs/Statement050609.pdf</x-tad-smaller></color><=
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 The May 14th DHP update may be found at
=
</x-tad-smaller><color><param>0000,0000,EEEE</param><x-tad-smaller>http://=
www.dhp.state.va.us/misc_docs/PMPQA51409.pdf


[Bytes in Brief]</x-tad-smaller></color></fontfamily>=

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