Monthly Archives: January 2015

Mandatory Encryption for Health Care Data. States Imposing Higher Standards than HIPAA.

The Garden State has mandated that all protected health information be encrypted. This new requirement applies to:

  • health providers
  • hospitals 
  • medical insurance corporations

The NJ legislation, signed by Gov. Christie, exceeds HIPAA requirements and will require encryption of:

  • patient’s name linked with:
    • a Social Security number
    • driver’s license or other state-issued identification
    • address
    • …

Downsizing Health Care Data Sharing

Private companies want access to government health care information to build their business, but they’re access to health care data is shrinking fast. HHS is severely cutting the information it is sharing with third parties.

The change was sparked after the AP reported that healthcare.gov was sending personal identifying information to third parties for marketing, advertising, and internet data performance purposes. 

Privacy advocates, the Electronic  Frontier  Foundation, …

Lege Trend: Techies Want Data Security Supremacy & Tax Relief

Georgia techies are focused on tax incentives and making Georgia the Supreme Leader in Data Security. The economic incentive proposals:

  • Extend Angel Investor Tax Credit
  • Film Tax Credits
  • “triple the qualifying period on a sales-tax exemption for companies buying more than $15 million in computer equipment, from one year to three”
    • This tax credit has made Georgia a hot spot for data centers
  • Create a committee to make Georgia a l…

States Ramp Up Data Security Laws. Propelled By Healthcare Data Breaches.

Add New York to the growing list of states ramping up data security laws. NY will consider legislation similar to OR and IN that would provide a “safe harbor rule for companies that implement specific data security plans and standards that officials say would minimize the chance of a breach. “

New York’s study of data breaches found that health care was the largest source for data breaches.  H…

Data Breach Hearings In Congress: To Pre-empt State Law or Not to Pre-Empt?

Federal law or state law? Which should have the final say over a data breach at a local business? Or, if a data breach affects a nationwide retailer? The State Of Union included a call for federal data breach laws, pre-empting state law. 

Texas Congressman Michael Burgess agrees with federal pre-emption.

He will chair the hearing on Tuesday January 27th, and said, “We need a plan in place that will help prevent data from being stolen in the first place, and will also allevi…

Health Care Data Breaches- Hackers or Human Errors?

Since 2009, health care data breach statistics are:

  • 8%  involve hacking
  • 40.9 million individuals’ records have been exposed
    • Of the individual records, 19%, were blamed on hackers
      • This includes a hack, allegedly by Chinese hackers ,to the health care data at Community Health System in Franklin, TN, resulting in stolen personally identifiable information on 4.5 million individuals.

President Obama’s federal data …