In The Wall Street Journal, Mark Barnes Discusses How Ransomware Attacks are Potential HIPAA Violation

Computer systems at Universal Health Services Inc., one of the nation’s largest hospital chains, suffered a malicious software attack, with impacts on the hospitals operations and its ability to care for patients. 

In The Wall Street Journal, health care and life sciences partner Mark Barnes (Boston) discussed how ransomware attacks are a potential HIPAA violation. Mark explains that under HIPAA health privacy rules, a malware attack that exposes patients’ personal health information could require hospitals to publicly disclose the breach. Hospitals can also face fines for privacy and security violations under the law.