Network Infrastructure

Health system websites are being buffeted with bad bots – an increase of 372% over the past six months, according to a new report – and that's making it harder to secure spots for COVID-19 vaccination.

The result? A significant decrease in missed observations, an increase in compliance and audited observations, a decrease in risk incidents, an increase in staff engagement with clients and improved access to patient data by medical staff.

Such attempts are up 580% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and healthcare is a major target, a new Crowdstrike report shows.

Its Ransomware Resource Center offers free tools to help healthcare IT pros "better prepare for, respond to, and recover from ransomware attacks."                           

Six top clinical and technology leaders detail the lessons they've learned since the pandemic began – and describe how they'll shape strategies for telehealth, infrastructure, patient engagement and other imperatives going forward.

Since the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) invested in an advanced communication ecosystem, improved cooperation between healthcare workers has triggered many related benefits, from flexible workflows to a better patient experience.

Capps, a physician who comes to the Georgia health system after nearly two decades at North Carolina's Novant Health, will also serve as chief digital officer.

Two French hospitals returned to paper systems after being targeted by hackers.

Bloomberg reports that the software has blocked users, lost registrations, double-booked appointments and crashed for up to three days.

A report Tuesday from South Korea's Yonhap News Agency on Tuesday alleged that the regime of Kim Jong Un had tried to tap into the servers of a local drugmaker to obtain data on the Pfizer vaccine. WHY IT MATTERS The charge from South Korea's National Intelligence Service, reportedly relayed to Seoul lawmakers in a closed-door session, wouldn't be the first time North Korea was accused of cyber meddling in the search for COVID-19 vaccine data. At the moment, intelligence officials appear uncertain as to the scope of the cyber incursion and how much data might have been accessed if any. While isolated and highly-secretive North Korea hasn't reported a single case of COVID-19, the hermit kingdom is nonetheless scheduled to receive 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine from the World Health Organization's COVAX program in the next few months, according to BBC. THE LARGER TREND This isn't the first time North Korea has been accused of hacking systems around the world to obtain vaccine data. This past November, Microsoft pointed the finger at "two actors originating from North Korea that we call Zinc and Cerium" that it alleged were "targeting seven prominent companies directly involved in researching vaccines and treatments for COVID-19." Many security observers believe that the cash-strapped nation, which is said to have armies of trained hackers, might be as interested in selling vaccine data on the black market as in developing therapeutic doses for its own people. Since the first COVID-19 vaccines were first rolled out, there has been intense global concern about how hackers and other bad actors, nation-state and otherwise, might attempt to intrude upon or disrupt the development process. This past December, IBM X-Force published a report that hackers were taking aim at the vaccines' "cold chain" supply lines, in what it described as a worldwide spear phishing effort that had "potential hallmarks of nation-state tradecraft." Phishing emails had been sent to vaccine and supply chain organizations in South Korea and other nations, the report said. And in January, the European Medicines Agency reported that some data related to the Pfizer vaccine, stolen during a cyber attack the previous month, had been posted online. ON THE RECORD "There were attempts to steal COVID vaccine and treatment technology during cyber attacks and Pfizer was hacked," said Ha Tae-keung, a member of South Korea's National Assembly, about this most recent incident, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday. Twitter: @MikeMiliardHITN Email the writer: mike.miliard@himssmedia.com Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.