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Networking News [Hospital Breaches Prove Fatal + California Privacy Laws]

November 19, 2019

Hospital surgery image

Here are some snippets of news and stories happening around the technological world and how it can affect the industry as a whole. For the month of November,  we will be focusing on effects on hospital breaches, tips to avoid network downtime for CyberMonday and many more.

Study: Ransomware, Data Breaches at Hospitals Tied to Uptick in Fatal Heart Attacks


On an alarming level, a new study conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University shows that network attacks and data breaches happening to hospitals have resulted in increased fatal heart attacks among patients. According to multiple healthcare industry experts, there is currently no data available to support the finding of a negative patient outcome, as a result of a cybersecurity vulnerability or attack. However, issues such as making pressing and critical healthcare decisions are being delayed as providers are not able to get test results back in time. Uncover more of what these disruptions are and what it can lead to here.

5 Things Retailers Can Do Now to Avoid a Cyber Monday Disaster


The holiday season is around the corner and many retailers who have online stores are amping up their processes in preparation for the holiday rush. Mixed with a feeling of excitement and trepidation, retailers are expecting a massive increase in sales and traffic to their website and apps. In order to keep up with the exponential demand, an important tip is to establish your network baseline traffic that enables you to fine-tune your alerts so you can detect problems quickly. Here are the rest of the top 5 things that every  online retailer should adhere to in order to avoid any network issues or digital crisis through the times of need.

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Active or Passive Network Monitoring: Which Should Your Company Use?


Depending on how big your company is, how much data you are dealing with, and what your end goal is, there are various methods for surveying the network. The 2 in contention are active versus passive network monitoring. Many times engineers are confused about which would be the most efficient and effective way of protecting and securing their own networks. In this article, Solutions Review explains the difference between both and provides insight on which one to adopt, according to your strategy. Read here to find out more.

Businesses Across the Board Scramble to Comply with California Data-Privacy Law


The start of the new year will ring in new regulations for companies collecting data on customers in California. The new law, which passed last year, applies to any for-profit business that does business in California, as long as its annual revenue tops $25 million, or it holds personal information on at least 50,000 consumers, or it generates at least 50% of its annual revenue from selling user data. This move was initiated to ensure that customers have the right to where their data goes and that they are able to ask businesses to delete their information or opt-out of letting it be sold. Companies that do not comply with this enforceable law are at risk of hefty fines and possible civil litigation. Click here to understand the implications of protecting consumer data for both retailers and customers.

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Heartbeats Packets Inside the Bypass TAP

If the inline security tool goes off-line, the TAP will bypass the tool and automatically keep the link flowing. The Bypass TAP does this by sending heartbeat packets to the inline security tool. As long as the inline security tool is on-line, the heartbeat packets will be returned to the TAP, and the link traffic will continue to flow through the inline security tool.

If the heartbeat packets are not returned to the TAP (indicating that the inline security tool has gone off-line), the TAP will automatically 'bypass' the inline security tool and keep the link traffic flowing. The TAP also removes the heartbeat packets before sending the network traffic back onto the critical link.

While the TAP is in bypass mode, it continues to send heartbeat packets out to the inline security tool so that once the tool is back on-line, it will begin returning the heartbeat packets back to the TAP indicating that the tool is ready to go back to work. The TAP will then direct the network traffic back through the inline security tool along with the heartbeat packets placing the tool back inline.

Some of you may have noticed a flaw in the logic behind this solution!  You say, “What if the TAP should fail because it is also in-line? Then the link will also fail!” The TAP would now be considered a point of failure. That is a good catch – but in our blog on Bypass vs. Failsafe, I explained that if a TAP were to fail or lose power, it must provide failsafe protection to the link it is attached to. So our network TAP will go into Failsafe mode keeping the link flowing.

Glossary

  1. Single point of failure: a risk to an IT network if one part of the system brings down a larger part of the entire system.

  2. Heartbeat packet: a soft detection technology that monitors the health of inline appliances. Read the heartbeat packet blog here.

  3. Critical link: the connection between two or more network devices or appliances that if the connection fails then the network is disrupted.

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