First, they broke into cars in business office parking lots during the day while the offices were filled with people. Finally, it was an unlocked car inside a locked garage at the quiet, suburban residence of a home care nurse, while she was there. She thought her new laptop and a stack of paper visit documents would be perfectly safe, tucked away in the trunk, while she attended to children and dinner. Instead, her employer is now in danger of civil and criminal penalties for possibly exposing patient information. What make this particular security incident of interest? It is certainly not the first time that a home care clinician’s laptop has been lost or stolen. This incident occurred and is unfolding in California, the first state with a law requiring organizations to disclose security breaches to all affected parties.more . . .
Stolen Laptop Raises Security and Liability Questions
Phishers Become More Aggressive
Experts offer tips to educate naïve, trusting computer users
Every day, an estimated 2 billion spam email messages are circulated worldwide. During the past 12 months, $2 billion has been lost due to illegal access to checking accounts. Coincidence? Not according to security experts Mark Rasch, William Malik and Paul Pak, featured speakers at a recent Ziff-Davis seminar. The one dollar per email profit ratio is on the rise and can be directly attributed to computer users, both home and corporate, who have not gotten the word that the Internet is not populated exclusively by saints and legitimate businesses. In fact, according to Rasch, Chief Security Council for Solutionary, Inc., naïve new-hires are favorite targets of today’s phishers. Hackers have learned to build web sites that look identical to official company sites, with the exception of a login box that routes passwords to Russia or Nigeria. more . . .
Every day, an estimated 2 billion spam email messages are circulated worldwide. During the past 12 months, $2 billion has been lost due to illegal access to checking accounts. Coincidence? Not according to security experts Mark Rasch, William Malik and Paul Pak, featured speakers at a recent Ziff-Davis seminar. The one dollar per email profit ratio is on the rise and can be directly attributed to computer users, both home and corporate, who have not gotten the word that the Internet is not populated exclusively by saints and legitimate businesses. In fact, according to Rasch, Chief Security Council for Solutionary, Inc., naïve new-hires are favorite targets of today’s phishers. Hackers have learned to build web sites that look identical to official company sites, with the exception of a login box that routes passwords to Russia or Nigeria. more . . .
New Technologies Making Passwords Obsolete
“Something you have,” “something you are,” replacing “something
you know”
Password hassles are nothing new. Nearly 20 years ago, in the “green screen” days of computing, Ferris Bueller figured out that Marge, the school secretary, wrote down the daily password and always hid it in the same desk drawer. That’s how he was able to get good grades without studying and skipping school nine times. To the horror of security officers everywhere, Post-It notes have made it even easier for today’s Ferris’s to steal passwords; they just glance at the monitor. “Let’s see, grocery list, husband’s birthday, ah, here it is, login ID and password.” To quote Principal Ed Rooney, “Wake up and smell the coffee Mrs. Bueller…”
Today, there are companies trying to make passwords a thing of the past by producing low-cost versions of technologies that formerly fit the budgets of none but Fortune 500 companies. Two such technologies were demonstrated at last month’s Healthcare Information Technology Summit West in San Francisco. One has strictly business uses but the other seems also to be targeting the consumer market. more . . .
Password hassles are nothing new. Nearly 20 years ago, in the “green screen” days of computing, Ferris Bueller figured out that Marge, the school secretary, wrote down the daily password and always hid it in the same desk drawer. That’s how he was able to get good grades without studying and skipping school nine times. To the horror of security officers everywhere, Post-It notes have made it even easier for today’s Ferris’s to steal passwords; they just glance at the monitor. “Let’s see, grocery list, husband’s birthday, ah, here it is, login ID and password.” To quote Principal Ed Rooney, “Wake up and smell the coffee Mrs. Bueller…”
Today, there are companies trying to make passwords a thing of the past by producing low-cost versions of technologies that formerly fit the budgets of none but Fortune 500 companies. Two such technologies were demonstrated at last month’s Healthcare Information Technology Summit West in San Francisco. One has strictly business uses but the other seems also to be targeting the consumer market. more . . .
Poll Uncovers Public Fear of Electronic Medical Records
Privacy, accuracy in doubt as White House, DHHS, push for Health IT Infrastructure
As DHHS healthcare information technology Czar Dr. David Brailer travels the country, promoting his National Health Information Infrastructure initiative, he returns to the same theme, “Market forces must create standardization that will overcome the interoperability obstacle.” Results of a recent Harris Poll may draw his attention to a different obstacle, public unwillingness to participate because of privacy concerns.
The poll, conducted by telephone between February 8 and 13, 2005 and designed by Professor Alan Westin of Columbia University and the Center for Social and Legal Research, found that most people who remember receiving a HIPAA notice of privacy practices from a healthcare provider report that their confidence that their medical information is being handled properly has increased either a great deal (23%) or somewhat (44%). When asked about Electronic Medical Records (EMR), however, 71% had not heard of them. Once EMRs were described, 70% expressed fear that sensitive personal information might be leaked because of weak security and nearly as many (69%) were concerned that their information could be shared without their knowledge. more . . .
As DHHS healthcare information technology Czar Dr. David Brailer travels the country, promoting his National Health Information Infrastructure initiative, he returns to the same theme, “Market forces must create standardization that will overcome the interoperability obstacle.” Results of a recent Harris Poll may draw his attention to a different obstacle, public unwillingness to participate because of privacy concerns.
The poll, conducted by telephone between February 8 and 13, 2005 and designed by Professor Alan Westin of Columbia University and the Center for Social and Legal Research, found that most people who remember receiving a HIPAA notice of privacy practices from a healthcare provider report that their confidence that their medical information is being handled properly has increased either a great deal (23%) or somewhat (44%). When asked about Electronic Medical Records (EMR), however, 71% had not heard of them. Once EMRs were described, 70% expressed fear that sensitive personal information might be leaked because of weak security and nearly as many (69%) were concerned that their information could be shared without their knowledge. more . . .
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec molestie. Sed aliquam sem ut arcu. Phasellus sollicitudin. Vestibulum condimentum facilisis nulla. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Nulla nonummy. Cras quis libero. Cras venenatis. Aliquam posuere lobortis pede. Nullam fringilla urna id leo. Praesent aliquet pretium erat. Praesent non odio. Pellentesque a magna a mauris vulputate lacinia. Aenean viverra. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Aliquam lacus. Mauris magna eros, semper a, tempor et, rutrum et, tortor. more . . .