Why does a victim of a data breach benefit from having a Recovery Solution?

Someone once explained recovery solutions with  the analogy of repairing your car. Yes, you could probably put in your own engine or reattach your own bumper, but would you want to?  With the time it takes to get the parts, educate yourself, acquire the tools needed, it could be days to weeks to even months before you attempt, let alone finish the task at hand. Recovery solutions are the same idea. Yes, you could contact the Social Security Administration, the IRS, the credit bureaus, the creditors, etc., but the amount of time and energy it takes is very daunting.

Analytics May Reduce PHI Exposure Risk in a Healthcare Data Breach

Ponemon’s Third Annual Benchmark Study on Patient Privacy and Data Security reported that most healthcare organizations have experienced a breach–94% of healthcare organizations in the study have had a data breach in the past two years, and 45% have experienced more than 5 data breaches.  In many cases, digital forensics is used to identify the reasons for a breach.  Lesser known is the importance of forensics in determining the extent to which PII / PHI is exposed and the number of affected individuals.

The Doctor Can See You Now - Mobile Threats and How Healthcare can Reduce Risks

One of the significant new trends in the use of technology in healthcare comes from doctors and patients using smartphones and other mobile devices like tablets .  The technology helps improve the quality and lower the cost of healthcare delivery.  The most recent third annual Ponemon study on patient privacy and data security found that 81% of the healthcare organizations surveyed permitted employees to use their own mobile devices at work.  There are many apparent benefits, some I can think of are:

It’s all about the patients

By now you've heard about the great success of the recent Protected Health Information (PHI) Protection Network's first conference in Boston.

Cyber Liability Insurance at the State Government level

I read an interesting article recently on Cyber Insurance within the public sector titled "Are Governments Ready to be Buyers of Cybersecurity Insurance". There were two main points that stood out to me and a surprise as well.

Lesson Learned by OCR Privacy & Security Audits

Right on the heels of a terrific inaugural workshop meeting for the PHI Protection Network (PPN) last week in Boston, I wanted to take a moment to revisit some of the key findings presented by representatives of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the IAPP Global Summit the prior week.  The results that they presented were incredibly detailed, and highlighted just how far healthcare organizations still have to go, in order to comply with HIPAA/HITECH privacy, security and breach notification provisions. Especially important, now that the Final Omnibus Rule has been published and the clock is ticking down on the timeframe for compliance.

Mobile Threats in the Healthcare Ecosystem

How many healthcare organizations allow their staff to use their smartphone at work to send/receive email, check calendars, access electronic patient records systems, etc.? 

81% of the organizations in a recent study by Ponemon Institute.

Privacy Class Actions may be in your future

In our never ending effort to keep you informed about the latest developments in the world of privacy data breaches and identity theft, comes the very recent news that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit just ruled on a case that could impact many of us with a need to protect personal information. In the attached article written for “The Privacy Advisor,” Henry Chalmers, attorney with Arnall, Golden, Gregory, LLP in Atlanta, writes:

How Much is $234 Billion?

That’s like giving $793 to each of the 300 million people living in the U.S.  It also turns out to be the estimated amount of annual medical fraud.

PHI Security Experts Preaching Patient Advocacy - Boston PPN Forum A Success!

As Chair of the PHI Protection Network Forum, I am proud to say our first annual PPN Forum that was held in Boston on March 12 and 13, 2013 was a success!