Podcasts Technology Healthcare Information Security Podcast Rebecca Herold: Use the Right Encryption

Rebecca Herold: Use the Right Encryption

Published: Feb. 19, 2010, 1:19 p.m.

b'Choosing the right form of encryption is essential when attempting to comply with the HITECH Act, says consultant Rebecca Herold.\\n\\n

In an interview, Herold:\\n\\n

Stresses that healthcare organizations can gain an exemption from the HITECH requirement to report data breaches only if they use specific NIST-approved minimum encryption standards. She points out that many encryption programs fall short of that standard.
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Notes that many hospitals simply "scramble" data on their own, thinking it will meet the HITECH breach notification "safe harbor" requirement for encryption, when it does not.
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Urges all healthcare organizations to formally document and assign responsibility for information security and privacy, and then communicate all policies to the entire staff.
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Stresses the cost-effectiveness of security safeguards. "It is much less expensive to implement safeguards than it is to pay for the expenses of incidents and privacy breaches after the fact."
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Herold, owner of Rebecca Herold & Associates, is known as the Privacy Professor. For more than two decades, she has specialized in information security privacy, security and compliance. She has served as an adviser to organizations in a number of industries, including healthcare.'