Medical fraud is occurring at an alarming rate and is expected to cost the US healthcare system $100 billion a year. Medical fraudsters vary in their sophistication and range from organized crime organizations to individuals preying on senior citizens. For example, one crime syndicate stole the identities of doctors and thousands of patients to make [...]
A majority of the media attention has focused on the sharp increase of personal identity theft or on the loss of customer data by businesses. Very little focus has been given to the damage done by fraudsters who craftily steal the identity of a business. The difference between personal and business identity theft is quite [...]
A recent study by Trend Micro indicates data loss is a growing concern for small businesses. The 2010 Corporate End User Study found that close to 60% of business respondents feared that data loss would be the result of data-stealing malware or by intentional or unintentional data leaks outside the company network. Even though data [...]
Legislation has been introduced in Congress to crack down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud. This legislation comes at a time when incidents of medical fraud are on the rise and the Obama Administration is poised to role out sweeping healthcare reform. Medical fraud is estimated to cost the U.S. health care system $100 billion a [...]
Phishing attacks are on the rise. According to a Panda Security investigation, scammers are creating 57,000 fake websites a week to falsely represent 375 popular brand names.
Unfortunately, data breaches are not specific to just one type of company in a particular industry. Breaches occur in companies both large and small and in a myriad of industries. What can a business do to minimize the risks and damages of a data breach?
Facebook and other social networks have generated a lot of buzz recently due to their data privacy settings and policies. Unfortunately, many consumers are not aware of these settings and openly share their personally identifiable information.
Recently I addressed the importance of having plans in place to protect personal health information in light of the sharp increase in healthcare data breaches. Unfortunately, research studies are finding that incidents of fraud resulting from exposed healthcare data are on the rise.
Identity thieves are becoming more skilled as they focus on stealing dormant social security numbers that belong to children. Experts point out that frequently the parents and children are not aware of the fraud and potential financial damage until the minor applies for his or her first job or student loan.
Just as the healthcare industry came up to speed on the regulations defined in The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health ("HITECH") Act, additional modifications are being proposed. These proposed rules focus on expanding obligations and penalties for covered entities (CEs) to now include business associates (BAs). So why is this significant?
