[Nik333]

There's a hospital near my home that was hacked. It was all over the news because it's the largest Medical Center in this more rural area. It's not my main Health System, but, is close when needed.

When I called them to ask if a bill for two dog bites was paid by a third party insurance, they kept saying they didn't have that information. Finally, the woman in Billing said that Claims had been brought down by the hacker.

I called today to pay a small $24 bill that's on the new system. When I mentioned calling before, the young woman kept correcting me, saying they hadn't been hacked. She said no information was taken. They just can't access it. Two years later.


Are they just using specific words to make it sound better?

I found this definition at study.com - "The basic definition of a hacker is someone who uses a computer system to gain unauthorized access to another system for data or who makes another system unavailable." (Or to bring a computer system down.)

It sure seems like they were hacked.

What do you think?

 

[stick\shift]

Hacked is a vague term to me unauthorized access. What is done with that access could be many things.

 

[Colbyt]

Hacked is used by the media to define what is really know as cracked. By common usage it has become the normal usage so for ease I will continue that below.


An unauthorized user gain access to the system and did naughty things. The most common 2 are to download sensitive information and the other is to encrypt the files and demand a ransom.


The lock and ransom is a common hack for businesses. Several hospitals here have gone through the experience. Some pay and some don't.

 

[stick\shift]

Sorry, typo in my post - Hacked is a vague term to mean unauthorized access.

Hate it when I don't notice until after the edit time expires....

 

[jimfarwell]

Fortunately, most large businesses (including medical clinics and hospitals) have become much more assiduous about making frequent backups of all programs, apps, and especially data files. Some of them still back up to alternate drives, but more and more are using cloud backup. This prevents the risk of ransomware blocking access to their files. BUT IT DOES NOT PREVENT THE MISUSE OR WIDE DISTRIBUTION OF THEIR DATA. For that, you need an excellent firewall, high quality internet security software, and most of all, careful attention by all authorized users to NOT be tricked into allowing access.

...As proved by so many recent security breaks, no matter how much an outfit pays for computer security, in the end it all boils down to individual employees -- their commitment to good security practices, their intelligence, their loyalty, and their honesty. If you have a worker who has huge gambling debts, or who is subject to blackmail, your data files are at risk.

And a company with a major security breach is highly unlikely to be transparent about it unless and until the situation is reported by some other entity...then they are all about sincere and open communication. Yeah, right.

If I sound embittered, it's because my wife and I have had to change one or more of our charge cards SEVEN times in the past five years because of data-breaches. We only maintain two debit cards and one credit card, but if we have used one of them at a company whose data has been breached...here we go again. And when I dig to find out what caused the breach, more often than not it is NOT some uber-genius criminal...it is that some employee fell for a stupid ploy, or was using the company computer for personal email and clicked on the wrong link...or who decided to make a few extra bucks by selling his company out. It's enough to make me want to go back to using cash only.

 

[Fix'n it]

It's enough to make me want to go back to using cash only.

that is why i use cash any time i can. and i have never had a debit card.