The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, is designed to keep individuals’ medical information and health records safe. Healthcare organizations must ensure HIPAA compliance, even — perhaps especially — during the current global pandemic. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S.

So, you’re a ransomware gang and you want to ensure that you have caught the attention of your latest corporate victim. You could simply drop your ransom note onto the desktop of infected computers, informing the firm that their files have been encrypted. Too dull? You could lock infected PCs and display a ghoulish skull on a bright red background (most ransomware seems to insist upon using a shade of red.

For many organizations, the past several years have been defined by an unending pursuit of data privacy and cybersecurity. Prompted by a daunting threat landscape, new regulatory standards and increasingly onerous consequences, companies invested millions in securing their digital infrastructure as an all-in attempt to meet the moment.