HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) Primary notice
Posted on the HHS OCR breach portal (HIPAA breaches affecting 500 or more individuals) with a submission date of Feb. 16, 2020.
- Organization as reported
- BST & Co. CPAs, LLP, NY
- Entity type as reported
- Business Associate
- Category as reported
Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of information as reported
- Network Server
- Submission date
- Feb. 16, 2020
- Observed by BreachRecords
- 2026-10-18 16:15 UTC (revision 12998, row:4137)
- Archived copy
- Held in the private archive (provenance)
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a settlement with BST & Co. CPAs, LLP (“BST”), a New York public accounting, business advisory, and management consulting firm, concerning a potential violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Security Rule. BST is a HIPAA business associate and receives financial information that also contains protected health information (PHI) from a HIPAA covered entity. OCR enforces the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules, which set forth the requirements that covered entities (health plans, health care clearinghouses, and most health care providers), and business associates – such as BST – must follow to protect the privacy and security of PHI. The HIPAA Security Rule establishes national standards to protect and secure our health care system by requiring administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and security of electronic protected health information (ePHI). The Risk Analysis provision requires regulated organizations (covered entities and business associates) to conduct an accurate and thorough assessment of the potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI held by those organizations. “A HIPAA risk analysis is essential for identifying where ePHI is stored and what security measures are needed to protect it,” said OCR Director Paula M. Stannard. “Completing an accurate and thorough risk analysis that informs a risk management plan is a foundational step to mitigate or prevent cyberattacks and breaches.” The settlement resolves an investigation of BST that OCR initiated after receiving a breach report that BST filed on February 16, 2020. BST reported that on December 7, 2019, BST discovered that part of its network was infected with ransomware, impacting the PHI of its covered entity client. OCR’s…