The Department of Homeland Security is concerned with a spike in hacker attempts to steal American health care records. Hackers, primarily from Russia and China, have accessed medical records from the military, but it is not clear if the private sector has been affected. DHS does not think the network was hacked for the express purpose of obtaining health care records, but such information was breached.

Mark Walker, who works in DHS’ Critical Infrastructure Protection Division, thinks the motive could be espionage. Walker stated that medical information could be used against the US from a “national security standpoint” because any health information about leaders in the US could “be of interest” to potential enemies. Of course, the motive for the attacks could just as easily be for blackmail, fraud or for some strategic advantage.

Right now, there are no strict requirements to report health data breaches. The DHS is urging government and private sector health care companies to report any breaches. A lack of strict requirements for reporting, DHS suggests, fosters poor security practices that could be as much of a threat as this cyber attack.

Via FCW, pogo was right Tags: health care, health care records, hack, hacking, hackers, dhs, homeland security, medical id theft