In August, hackers corrupted the Web portal for Utah’s health insurance exchange and rendered the site inoperable for about ten days. The attack resulted in garbled words, blurry headlines, and some inaccessible Web pages on the site.
The online marketplace, where employers and employees can shop for health insurance policies, does have a database where personal and medical information is entered when requesting price quotes; however, that data is hosted on a separate, secure Web site and was therefore not compromised in any way. No estimate for the repair cost was given by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, where the exchange is housed, and there is no criminal investigation underway for the act of vandalism which was compared with having one’s mailbox spraypainted.
Computer networks and Web sites are increasingly vulnerable, and HIPAA violations can be very costly. Microwize Technology can provide your organization with reliable backups, firewalls, and even managed IT services to keep you up and running.