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The January 2026 Cybersecurity Newsletter released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights focuses on the importance of “system hardening” methods to help protect electronic protected health information. The newsletter provides HIPAA-covered entities with reminders about system processes to implement or monitor, suggestions and tips to consider for those processes, and links to resources that may be useful in relation to those processes.
System hardening and security baselines can be an effective means to enhance security, and for regulated entities to protect ePHI. However, defining, creating, and applying system hardening techniques is not a one-and-done exercise.
