If you were the privacy officer in your organization, how would you address the following?

 The healthcare professionals are using smartphones iPads and other mobile devices. How do you address privacy when data can literally walk out of your setting?

Communication technology has advanced over the years, with smartphones and tablets becoming ubiquitous in healthcare settings. The use of mobile devices in healthcare makes direct communication between doctors easy and provides access to medical reporting and medical tracking apps. However, increased use of mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones in healthcare increases the risk of data breaches. Some of the regulations on data breaches are given by HIPAA and HITECH and seek to protect against breaches of personal health information.

Ensuring Privacy in Mobile Healthcare Devices

One of the ways to address data privacy when using mobile devices is by installing and activating remote wiping or remote disabling features. This enables users to erase data on mobile devices remotely. This helps to erase or permanently delete data stored on a lost or stolen mobile device. Secondly, this data security issue can be solved by installing and enabling encryption, which helps protect health information stored and sent by mobile devices. Some mobile devices come with built-in encryption capabilities, while others need the tool to be installed. Thirdly, this security issue can be addressed by deliberately not installing file-sharing applications or systems that allow users to connect to each other. This is because file sharing can enable unauthorized users to access computers and other mobile devices without the owner’s consent.

Moreover, the security of data on mobile devices can be enhanced by installing and enabling a firewall. A firewall helps to protect devices against unauthorized connections and also helps intercept incoming and outgoing connection attempts. A firewall permits or blocks connections based on a set of rules. The security of data stored on a mobile device can be enhanced by encouraging users to delete health records before reusing the mobile device. This can be done by using software tools that thoroughly wipe data stored on mobile devices. APA