{"id":4433,"date":"2017-03-10T23:45:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T23:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/?p=4433"},"modified":"2021-11-02T23:47:27","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T23:47:27","slug":"advice-to-healthcare-providers-on-ransomware-from-the-head-of-the-fbi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/2017\/03\/10\/advice-to-healthcare-providers-on-ransomware-from-the-head-of-the-fbi\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice to Healthcare Providers on Ransomware from the Head of the FBI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>On Wednesday, March 8, James B. Comey, Director of the FBI, was at Boston College to deliver the keynote address for the inaugural\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bc.edu\/schools\/advstudies\/graduate\/MScybersecurity\/fbi-conference1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Boston Conference on Cyber Security (BCCS 2017).\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>Director Comey addressed various industry, cyber security, FBI, law enforcement and military experts in attendance regarding current cyber threats to both industry and government assets and the FBI\u2019s approach to confronting them.\u00a0 \u00a0During his remarks, Director Comey was asked to opine on the biggest cyber threat to healthcare providers, to which Comey quickly responded, \u201cransomware.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ransomware is malware that installs covertly on a computer, tablet, or other mobile device and encrypts the victim\u2019s data, preventing access unless and until the victim pays the ransom, typically in the form of bitcoins.&nbsp; Healthcare providers are appealing ransomware targets because they are dependent on immediate access to real time data in order to care for their patients. &nbsp;For those same reasons, healthcare providers often elect to pay the ransom to unlock their records, making them a lucrative target for hackers.&nbsp; Director Comey\u2019s advice to health care providers was twofold:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Never Pay Ransom<\/strong>:&nbsp; The advice to never pay ransom was echoed by a number of intelligence and security experts during BCCS 2017.&nbsp; According to Director Comey, the payment of ransomware by one healthcare provider emboldens attackers and proliferates the attacks, placing other healthcare providers at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Maintain Adequate Backup Systems<\/strong>:&nbsp; Comprehensive business continuity plans and data backup are the only surefire way to continue critical operations following a ransomware attack and avoid paying ransom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Director Comey also encouraged healthcare providers to work closely with the&nbsp;FBI by reporting all manner of cyberattacks, noting that industry and law enforcement collaboration is key to combatting cybercrime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cynthia Larose, Chair of the Mintz Levin Privacy and Security Practice Group, and one of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mintz.com\/news-events\/news\/articletype\/articleview\/articleid\/3905\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">three Mintz Levin attorney speakers at BCCS 2017<\/a>, emphasized the importance of data backup, but also the importance of testing business continuity and data back up plans before a disaster.\u00a0 \u201cAn ounce of prevention can prevent a million headaches,\u201d \u00a0she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve previously described the impact of ransomware in the healthcare industry in a number of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/?s=ransomware\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blog posts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Wednesday, March 8, James B. Comey, Director of the FBI, was at Boston College to deliver the keynote address for the inaugural\u00a0Boston Conference on Cyber Security (BCCS 2017).\u00a0\u00a0Director Comey addressed various industry, cyber security, FBI, law enforcement and military experts in attendance regarding current cyber threats to both industry and government assets and the &#8230; <a title=\"Advice to Healthcare Providers on Ransomware from the Head of the FBI\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/2017\/03\/10\/advice-to-healthcare-providers-on-ransomware-from-the-head-of-the-fbi\/\" aria-label=\"More on Advice to Healthcare Providers on Ransomware from the Head of the FBI\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_generate-full-width-content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4433"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4435,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4433\/revisions\/4435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthlawpolicymatters.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}