Jul 21 2010

Data Breach and Legislation: What’s Coming Your Way?

Category: Information Security — DISC @ 11:34 am
From wired: data breaches
Image by Agathe B via Flickr

Prepare now to prevent a ‘security breach’: 45 states and the District of Columbia have laws spelling out procedures when personal information has been … article from: New Hampshire Business Review

By David Scott

It’s rather interesting to monitor what’s happening in the UK right now. Data protection legislation is moving forward. And… business there supports data protection legislation.

A survey of 1200 businesses indicates that those businesses are concerned about the strength of laws: Nearly 50% feel that laws are weak and require revision, and 87% believe that organizations should be required to divulge breaches of sensitive content where information about the public is involved. [Source: Sophos].

Here in the U.S., I rather doubt business is keen on more legislative oversight. Generally speaking, I’m wary of new legislation – new laws must be thoroughly reviewed so as to guard against unintended – and negative – consequences, particularly where business is concerned. In today’s economy, we don’t want to impinge businesses’ opportunities for hearty conduct and growth.

However, I do like the breach notification idea. It serves a couple purposes that come readily to mind:

– Stakeholders (the public, customers, allied agencies…) are entitled to know about breaches that affect them, or ones that just have the potential to affect the general well-being of the business.

– Also, healthy exposure and just that potential help to motivate businesses in the currency of their ongoing security measures.

Particularly for small/medium business, and smaller government agencies such as those at county/municipality level: Do you have in-house security professionals who cast the horizon for new threats, with attendant posture of proactivity? And, do you have strong security partners in the form of advisors, vendors and allied security products?

How do readers of the Exchange feel about it? Would you welcome new legislation? Are you confident regarding data security in your organization?

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Tags: Data, data breach, data security, Information Privacy, security legislation

Feb 03 2010

UCSF laptop containing patient files stolen

Category: hipaa,Security Breach — DISC @ 3:46 pm

UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program
Image via Wikipedia

The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO—The medical records of more than 4,000 patients at the University of California, San Francisco may have been compromised after a laptop they were on was stolen.
Officials with the university said Wednesday the laptop was recovered earlier this month after it was taken from a medical school employee during a flight in November. It does not appear that anyone gained access to the computer or the confidential patient information, but officials say the records still could have been exposed.

The files contained patients’ names, medical record numbers, ages and clinical information, but no Social Security numbers or financial data.

School officials say they are notifying the 4,400 patients whose records were on the computer. They were all treated in 2008 and 2009.
———
Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle


Here we have another unnecessary major security breach in a large healthcare organization which resulted in a loss of patient data demonstrating poor baseline security. They clearly are not ready for the new HIPAA provision ARRA and HITECH. Evaluate your current business and system risks to make sure this does not happen to you.
Contact DISC for any question if you think, this may apply to you.

The Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance

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Tags: arra and hitech, confidential patient information, Data, hipaa, Medical record, medical records breach, Medicine, Patient files stolen, San Francisco, San Francisco Chronicle, UCSF, University of California San Francisco

Dec 10 2009

What is a risk assessment framework

Category: Information Security,Risk Assessment — DISC @ 5:46 pm

Computer security is an ongoing threat?!?
Image by Adam Melancon via Flickr

The Security Risk Assessment Handbook: A Complete Guide for Performing Security Risk Assessments

Definition – A risk assessment framework (RAF) is a strategy for prioritizing and sharing information about the security risks to an information technology (IT) infrastructure.

A good RAF organizes and presents information in a way that both technical and non-technical personnel can understand. It has three important components: a shared vocabulary, consistent assessment methods and a reporting system.

The common view an RAF provides helps an organization see which of its systems are at low risk for abuse or attack and which are at high risk. The data an RAF provides is useful for addressing potential threats pro-actively, planning budgets and creating a culture in which the value of data is understood and appreciated.

There are several risk assessment frameworks that are accepted as industry standards including:

Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems (NIST guide) from the National Institute of Standards.

Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation (OCTAVE) from the Computer Emergency Readiness Team.

Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association.

To create a risk management framework, an organization can use or modify the NIST guide, OCTAVE or COBIT or create a framework inhouse that fits the organization’s business requirements. However the framework is built, it should:

1. Inventory and categorize all IT assets.
Assets include hardware, software, data, processes and interfaces to external systems.

2. Identify threats.
Natural disasters or power outages should be considered in addition to threats such as malicious access to systems or malware attacks.

3. Identify corresponding vulnerabilities.
Data about vulnerabilities can be obtained from security testing and system scans. Anecdotal information about known software and/or vendor issues should also be considered.

4. Prioritize potential risks.
Prioritization has three sub-phases: evaluating existing security controls, determining the likelihood and impact of a breach based on those controls, and assigning risk levels.

5. Document risks and determine action.
This is an on-going process, with a pre-determined schedule for issuing reports. The report should document the risk level for all IT assests, define what level of risk an organization is willing to tolerate and accept and identify procedures at each risk level for implementing and maintaining security controls.

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Tags: Business, COBIT, Computer security, Data, Fire and Security, Information Technology, iso 27001, iso 27002, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, OCTAVE, Risk management, Security, security controls, Technology