Cleveland Medical Associates was hit with ransomware back in April and has ordered identity protection service for the roughly 22,000 patients whose identities were at risk.
"Wait a second," you might be saying. "They need to order identity protection service because of ransomware?"
Possibly. Regulators are starting to classify ransomware as a data breach, particularly in the healthcare industry where any sort of access to private health data could be a HIPAA violation. After all, the malware locks away data, so it is possible that it could access it as well.
The best way to prevent a ransomware infection, or most any malware infection, is to make sure your employees receive security awareness training. A large portion of infections result from opening infected email attachments or visiting malicious websites.
Update: A previous edition of this post named the victim as the Cleveland Clinic instead of Cleveland Medical Associates.
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Craig Petronella founded Petronella Technology Group in 2002 and has spent 20+ years professionally at the intersection of cybersecurity, AI, compliance, and digital forensics. He holds the CMMC Registered Practitioner credential issued by the Cyber AB and leads Petronella as a CMMC-AB Registered Provider Organization (RPO #1449). Craig is an NC Licensed Digital Forensics Examiner (License #604180-DFE) and completed MIT Professional Education programs in AI, Blockchain, and Cybersecurity. He also holds CompTIA Security+, CCNA, and Hyperledger certifications.
He is an Amazon #1 Best-Selling Author of 15+ books on cybersecurity and compliance, host of the Encrypted Ambition podcast (95+ episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon), and a cybersecurity keynote speaker with 200+ engagements at conferences, law firms, and corporate boardrooms. Craig serves as Contributing Editor for Cybersecurity at NC Triangle Attorney at Law Magazine and is a guest lecturer at NCCU School of Law. He has served as a digital forensics expert witness in federal and state court cases involving cybercrime, cryptocurrency fraud, SIM-swap attacks, and data breaches.
Under his leadership, Petronella Technology Group has served hundreds of regulated SMB clients across NC and the southeast since 2002, earned a BBB A+ rating every year since 2003, and been featured as a cybersecurity authority on CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, and WRAL. The company leverages SOC 2 Type II certified platforms and specializes in AI implementation, managed cybersecurity, CMMC/HIPAA/SOC 2 compliance, and digital forensics for businesses across the United States.