Â鶹ŮÓÅ

After years of budgetary indifference to health information security, and fresh off the worst year in history for healthcare data breaches, many healthcare organizations will be putting more resources into protecting their data, according to Modern Healthcare's 26th annual Survey of Executive Opinions on Key Information Technology Issues. An overwhelming majority of respondents indicated that the threat of cybersecurity breaches will have some (51%) or considerable (42%) impact on their organization's IT security spending this year. (Conn, 2/27)

Los Angeles County Department of Health Services computers have been targeted in a "ransomware" cyberattack, officials said Friday. Ransomware is a type of malware that takes control of computers and cuts off users' access to files or threatens to destroy them unless a ransom is paid. Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center officials said earlier this month that they had paid a $17,000 ransom in bitcoin to a hacker who seized control of the hospital's computer systems. The attack on the Los Angeles County health department was on a smaller scale. (Sewell, 2/26)