In February 2024, Change Healthcare, a prominent healthcare technology solutions provider, fell victim to a significant ransomware attack. The ALPHV/Blackcat ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack, which resulted in the theft of 4TB of sensitive data. Despite a $22 million ransom payment intended to secure the deletion of the stolen data, the hackers orchestrated an exit scam, passing the data to another group, RansomHub, which demanded an additional ransom. This incident underscores the critical importance of cybersecurity in healthcare and highlights the need for patients to be vigilant about their rights regarding protecting their personal health information (PHI).

Understanding Patient Rights in Healthcare Cybersecurity

Healthcare data security is fundamental to protecting patient information, and understanding your rights as a patient is crucial in safeguarding your health data. Legally, healthcare providers are required to implement robust security measures to ensure that your PHI is secure from unauthorized access, breaches, and misuse. Under laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), you have the right to expect that your healthcare data is handled with the highest confidentiality and security standards.

A. Legal Protections
HIPAA is vital in ensuring healthcare data security, mandating that healthcare providers implement…