Watchdog Says Government Failing To Enforce HIPAA Privacy Protections

The Government Accountability Office GAO is warning that the U.S. government hasn’t lived up to promises to protect the privacy of Medicare patients who use the federal government’s Prescription Drug Benefit and not following through on promises to audit organizations that store patient health...

DHS Warns About Threat Of Mobile Devices In Healthcare

In a bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security DHS is warning healthcare organizations about the threat posed by insecure, network attached medical devices and the proliferation of smart phones, tablet PCs and other mobile devices in medical settings. DHS’s National Cybersecurity and...

Real World Security – Larry Whiteside Interview

Like every other security executive in the health care industry, Larry Whiteside, CISO of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, spends much of his time dealing with compliance-related issues. But the distributed nature of his user population means that he has sensitive patient data on thousands...

The Berkeley breach: Is SaaS the answer?

One recent Friday afternoon I took time off to visit two new health providers: a new dentist nearer my home and an orthopedic to look at my lateral epicondylitis. In both cases, as a new patient, I filled in page after page of medical history and personal information, including my Social Security...