Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
Protecting Patient Data with Wiping & Encryption for HIPAA Compliance
Strengthening Healthcare Cybersecurity with Wiping & Encryption for HIPAA Compliance
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) establishes rules for safeguarding the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI) and electronic protected health information (ePHI). For healthcare providers, organizations responsible for health plans and their business associates, complying with HIPAA is not just a legal obligation but a cornerstone of ethical patient care. A comprehensive and efficient strategy includes data wiping and encryption.
HIPAA Data Wiping
- HIPAA mandates that covered entities establish policies for the secure disposal of protected health information. This applies to both paper and electronic records (ePHI). For ePHI, the disposal should ensure that the information cannot be reconstructed or accessed. Techniques like data wiping align with these requirements.
- Media can be sanitized following NIST Guidelines for Media Sanitization, which outline three methods for data destruction: Clear, Purge and Destroy.
- To help your organization with HIPAA, we offer BCWipe to wipe selected files and folders and BCWipe Total WipeOut to erase entire hard drives.
HIPAA Encryption
- Encryption is specifically addressed in HIPAA:
§ 164.312(a)(2)(iv) – Access Control
Requires the implementation of a mechanism to encrypt and decrypt ePHI when considered appropriate.
§ 164.312(e)(2)(ii) – Transmission Security
Requires the implementation of a mechanism to encrypt ePHI when considered appropriate. This guards against unauthorized access during transmission over electronic communications networks. - To help your organization with HIPAA compliance, we offer BestCrypt Container Encryption to safeguard files and folders and BestCrypt Volume Encryption to protect entire hard drives.
With Jetico, You Can
To help your organization with HIPAA, we offer data wiping and encryption solutions:
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About HIPAA Compliance
Few institutions need to be as protective of personal data as healthcare. Introduced in 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets strict standards for safeguarding electronic protected health information (ePHI). The regulation ensures that organizations take steps to maintain data privacy and security across access, transmission and disposal processes.
Similar regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and PIPEDA in Canada, also enforce data protection standards within the healthcare industry, emphasizing the global need for stringent cybersecurity measures.
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