Data Retention Policies under GDPR

Data Retention Policies under GDPR

As of this Friday, May 25, the General Data Protection Regulation comes into effect in all European Union (EU) states. Many countries who are not members of the EU remained unconcerned about the requirements of the GDPR. However, if your company or organization does...
What is the Significance of HIPAA?

What is the Significance of HIPAA?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a pivotal piece of legislation, but why is HIPAA so significant? What alternations did HIPAA introduce and what are the advantages that it allocate to the healthcare industry and patients? Introduced...

Google Drive as a HIPAA Compliant Service

Google Drive can deemed as compliant and non-compliant with HIPAA. This is due to the fact that compliance is less about technology and more about how technology is utilized on a daily basis. Even a software solution or cloud service that is found to be...
GDPR Data Backup Requirements

GDPR Data Backup Requirements

Physical and technological failures and glitches occur even in the best-maintained and most secure files. This is why the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires a plan in place to safeguard and restore data in personal files of EU citizens whenever a...
What is Vital Interest in GDPR?

What is Vital Interest in GDPR?

The term ‘vital interests’ is not new. In fact, it was written into legislation in Schedule 2 paragraph 4 of the 1998 Act. At the time ‘vital interests’ referred to those of subjects whose data was being collected. GDPR has widened the term to...
Cambridge Health Alliance Suffers PHI Breach

Cambridge Health Alliance Suffers PHI Breach

Law enforcement agencies have notified Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) that the protected health information of some of its subscibers has been obtained by an unauthorized individual. Everett Massachusetts Police Department alerted, on January 31, 2018, CHA that data...
Finger Lakes Health hit by ransomware attack

Finger Lakes Health hit by ransomware attack

Geneva, NY-based Finger Lakes Health has been hit by a ransomware attack that has impacted its computer system. Employees have been forced to work on pen and paper while the health system tries to remove the malware and restore access to electronic data. The...
Liquid Web and HIPAA Compliance

Liquid Web and HIPAA Compliance

Healthcare groups seeking a hosting solution may identify Liquid Web as a possible vendor, but is Liquid Web HIPAA compliant? Can its cloud management services be used by HIPAA-covered bodies for hosting applications and projects that include electronic protected...

HIPAA and Texting Violations

To refer to texting as a violation of HIPAA is not strictly correct. Depending on the body copy of the text message, who the text message is being shared with, or mechanisms put in place to safeguard the integrity of Protected Health Information (PHI), texting can be...
Compliance Checklist for HIPAA

Compliance Checklist for HIPAA

HIPAA Compliance Checklist 2018-2019 If your group manages electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI), the best thing for you to do is to carefully consider all of the information included here in our HIPAA compliance checklist 2018-2019. The purpose of our HIPAA...
White and Bright Family Dental Servers Hacked

White and Bright Family Dental Servers Hacked

White and Bright Family Dental has found that one of its data servers storing patients’ private data has been hacked. Access to the Fresno, CA-based server was obtained by the hackers on January 30, 2018. The Fresno Police Department was quickly made aware of the...
Is Slack HIPAA Compliant?

Is Slack HIPAA Compliant?

Slack is a useful tool that can make it much easier to communicate and collaborate, but is Slack HIPAA compliant? Would it be against HIPAA regulations for healthcare entities to send protected health information (PHI) via Slack? Is Slack HIPAA Compliant? The question...
Sharepoint and HIPAA Compliance

Sharepoint and HIPAA Compliance

A web-based document management and storage system, SharePoint is one of the most popular leading collaborative services available, used by 78% of Fortune 500 firms. The service relies on Microsoft’s OpenXML document standard and therefore integrates seamlessly with...
HIPAA Compliance and Yammer

HIPAA Compliance and Yammer

Yammer is a freemium enterprise social networking platform used for private communication and collaboration within organizations since 2008. After a bedding in period Microsoft purchased the company in 2012. It has grown in popularity since then to the extent that it...
WebEx and HIPAA Compliance

WebEx and HIPAA Compliance

A web and video conferencing and collaboration platform, WebEx allows businesses connect with remote workers and partners as if they are working on site. Using utilities like WebEx, healthcare groups can interact quickly and easily with the workforce, no matter where...