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Foreign hackers target American health records

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, February 11, 2008

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports that foreign hackers, primarily Russian and Chinese, are increasingly trying to steal Americans' healthcare records, according to a January 17 article in Federal Computer Week (FCW).

Mark Walker, of DHS' Critical Infrastructure Protection Division, told a workshop audience at the National Institute of Standards and Technology that espionage seems to be the hackers' primary motive, according to FCW's online edition.

Hackers placed a virus on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site early last year and someone hacked a Military Health System server holding Tricare records in April, he told FCW. (Tricare is the health services and support program for Defense Department dependents.)

Walker told FCW that hackers are trying to exfiltrate healthcare data. "We don't know why. We want to know why," he said, adding that it's clear that "medical information can be used against us from a national security standpoint." Any health problems experienced by the nation's leaders would be of interest to potential enemies, Walker told FCW.

DHS wants to establish a database of health information system intrusions to facilitate threat analysis and countermeasure development, he said.

To read the FCW article, click here.

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