Foreign hackers, primarily from Russia and China, are increasingly seeking to steal Americans’ health care records, according to a Department of Homeland Security analyst. Mark Walker, who works in DHS’ Critical Infrastructure Protection Division, told a workshop audience at the National Institute of Standards and Technology that the hackers’ primary motive seems to be espionage. “They’ve been focused on the [Department of Defense] – the military – but now are spreading out into the health care private sector,” Walker said. Early in 2007, a virus was placed on a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, he said, and...
