“PCI compliance” might sound boring and technical, but it’s a major focal point for any business that handles online credit or debit card payments. In 2019, that’s most businesses!
The internet has completely changed the way we shop and transact — where we used to go to brick and mortar stores in order to spend cash or swipe a card in exchange for the goods we want, this entire experience can now happen from the comfort of your home.
In times of widespread concern about cyberattacks and phishing attempts, it turns out that there’s a clear roadmap to protect your business from malicious hackers — your business only needs to pursue PCI compliance. But what is this term, and what is it all about?
Payment card industry (PCI) compliance refers to the standards that companies have to stick to in order to process payment information online. These best practices are collectively known as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and they were created by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). This set of best practices works to increase controls and protection around cardholder data while simultaneously reducing credit card fraud.
Just as you might see homes advertising the security systems they’ve installed (“protected by Brinks,” for example), PCI compliance is a similar demonstration that a company has taken steps to protect its systems and infrastructure. When you make your business PCI compliant, it represents major progress toward protecting your customers from data breaches and protecting your business against cyberattacks. It’s completely in your interest if your company processes payments online.
Healthcare organizations not only have to be HIPAA and HITECH compliant, but they also have to ensure that their business associates are compliant as well. Which makes sense; if electronic health records (EHRs) are being passed from one healthcare organization to another company, the information is still private and needs to be secured. To ensure this is the case, many organizations are requiring business associates to adopt HITRUST’s data and data security framework, while implementing it internally themselves.
To what degree these business associates are mandated to adopt the HITRUST security framework depends on the healthcare organization. Although leveraging the framework to some degree will significantly protect both the healthcare organization and the associate in the case of an audit.
To understand why organizations are leveraging the HITRUST framework and how it can help, read ahead.
There are plenty of industries with which government intervention plays a necessary role. Unarguably, they provide for national defense, a platform for international relations and foreign policy, and they ensure minimum basic dignity to citizens within their borders. Then — some might say “unarguably” again — there are the sectors with which government intervention lends a less helpful hand. To get specific, today we’re talking about data security in the healthcare industry.
To learn about how and why the private sector has increased the demands for security and how HITRUST, a data security platform, is growing its privacy controls, read ahead.
Over the past two decades, the healthcare industry has undergone a seismic shift in the way that processes are operated and regulated. Thanks to revolutionary technological innovations and several sweeping pieces of legislation, healthcare entities have been strongarmed into changing with the times. The most notable example of this exodus-of-sorts is the medical industry’s shift in how they store confidential client information, painfully transitioning from physical record keeping to a digital storage format.
This forced change in practices was met with grumbling by some and flat out refusal by others, resulting in a lack of continuity, noncompliance, or only partial compliance. Naturally, the lack of cohesion created a virtual, frenzied feeding ground for hackers and cyber criminals seeking access to patient’s personal data. In response to this rampant rise in digital crime, the HITRUST framework was erected. Today, this security audit system forms the best defense against malicious attacks. So, if you’re a healthcare company, you’ll want to obtain a HITRUST certification.
Read on to discover how you can go about the process!
Ever since 1996, with the passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), healthcare organizations have been assessing the risks that are associated with electronic health records (EHRs). Now, with nearly every hospital utilizing the latest gadgets in healthcare technology from cloud storage to automation to mobile tablets and devices, the need for protecting patient data is at an all-time high.
To help manage and reduce the risk of data breaches, healthcare organizations promote the use of security frameworks. One such framework is the HITRUST community security framework (CSF). The reason this framework is among the most trusted in the healthcare industry is how it can be adjusted to fit any HIPAA mandate or new healthcare law — thus never leaving room for penalties due to security issues.
In fact, it’s for this very reason healthcare organizations are starting to require their business associates to be HITRUST certified. If you’re considering HITRUST CSF, then you should be aware of the different types of HITRUST assessment.
Over the past two decades, many healthcare companies have struggled to transition from physical to digital record keeping as mandated by the HITECH Act. Naturally, the convoluted changes, standards, and stringencies outlined therein have left businesses confused, scratching their heads, wondering how best to wade through this quagmire. As a result, the total overhaul of such a massive system has moved at a glacial pace.
To make matters more complicated, as the healthcare industry develops, growing evermore dependent upon emerging and expanding technologies in order to cache and deliver electronic healthcare records [EHR], ensuring compliance and maintaining cybersecurity has become an increasingly intricate ballet. A large aspect of compliance involves obtaining your HITRUST certification, which is no simple process. So, to help you prepare for the obstacles ahead, below, you’ll find our comprehensive guide on the HITRUST certification process and timeline.
One of the greatest perils the healthcare community must confront involves the ever-present danger of major information security threats. To make matters worse, these are not stagnant hazards; rather, they’re continuously shifting and evolving in response to each newly erected digital moat, palisade, or bulwark. So, as the industry’s information communication technology [ICT] infrastructure becomes more complex and sophisticated, so too do the malicious programs and people seeking entrance into such systems.
Fortunately, defensive systems and protocols have been raised in order to ward off the hoards of 21st-century barbarians. Chief amongst these measures is HITRUST, which has become the industry standard for regulating and mitigating risk. But what are the major cybersecurity risks in healthcare and how does HITRUST help prevent them?
Read on to discover the answers to these questions and more!
With the passing of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in 1996 came the need to update healthcare records onto electronic devices. Although, the adoption of these electronic health records (EHRs) primarily came later, when the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) was passed in 2009. With the combined set of rules and regulations, being both HIPAA and HITECH compliant became a complex puzzle for healthcare organizations to piece together.
But data and data security issues weren’t going to wait. With the significant proliferation of computers, smartphones, and other electronic devices, data security and privacy regulations needed to be streamlined and enforced. Thus, frameworks for data security and security compliance were created.
NIST and HITRUST are both frameworks that help healthcare organizations stay HIPAA compliant to avoid penalties for data security breaches. Though the question then becomes: which framework should be used, and are the two compatible? To explore these questions and more, read ahead.
In the last decade, the world of cybercrime has been a growing industry. Per the Official 2019 Annual Cybercrime Report performed by the Herjavec Group, cybercrime is projected to create global costs of $6 trillion, a cost increase of 100% in just five years. In response to this growing and evolving threat, companies have been forced to look for vulnerabilities in their perimeter defenses, and then enact further security controls.
A common theme of such assessments has been that the most exposed area of any company is their email security. So, if you’re looking to revamp your cybersecurity, a great place to start is with your email. To that end, below we’ll discuss the particular threats shoddy email security poses to your business and recommended steps you can take to better protect it, including email encryption.
Read on to find out ways to improve your email security.