If your healthcare facility were to have a data breach tomorrow, how would you go about notifying affected individuals? More importantly, how would you do it in a way that satisfies the HITECH requirements?
The answer isn’t easy. Even without HITECH, notification and subsequent response can take an alarming toll on the finances and resources of an organization.
A data breach can occur many ways. Even a data “warehouser,” who has implemented a policy to minimize data collection and retention while making necessary data accessible in a secure environment, may still be subject to a data breach. A data breach may still occur by accident or through malice even when a well written policy and procedure is adhered to seriously by computer users. Data is only as safe as the trustworthiness and reliability of the organization’s users.
The average online computer user faces many security threats. Users are commonly reminded to keep their operating systems up to date, install virus software and firewalls, and have at least one anti-spyware program running at all times. Kroll investigators counsel members of our identity theft programs to reduce their fraud exposure to Internet threats with this advice. We also remind them not to fall victim to a false sense of security. Identity theft protection does not exempt consumers from following practices to reduce their likelihood of becoming a victim while online. When it comes to online safety, best practices involve avoiding questionable websites, using social networking safely and being stingy with personal information. Now, we add to our list of advice “close inactive browser tabs.” Why? To prevent a relatively new phenomenon known as “tabnapping.”
Ten tips for fax safety
As we discussed in the last two posts in this series, you can see how even mundane office equipment can pose a serious security risk. Part of the security battle here is simply understanding the issue, because the technology already exists to help you erase your fax or copier hard drive. So, are you safeguarding against what amounts to pure error?
As it turns out, there are several steps you and your staff can take to reduce the risk of misdirected faxes:
Faxes and copiers hang on to your sensitive documents a lot longer than you think
As if worrying about causing a data breach through simple fax error weren’t enough, there’s another menace lurking in your office equipment that can sabotage your security. Most copiers and fax machines less than seven years old contain hard drives or memory chips that can record and store any data sent through the machine; that is, any document you copy or fax.
