PRIVACY + SECURITY BLOG

News, Developments, and Insights

Lessons from the Latest HIPAA Enforcement Action

by Daniel J. Solove Recently, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) publicized its resolution agreement in its HIPAA enforcement action against St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center (SEMC).  SEMC agreed to pay $218,000. The case began with a complaint filed with OCR back in 2012 that employees […]

Understanding the FTC on Privacy and Security

by Daniel J. Solove I recently held a webinar about the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for TRUSTe called Understanding the FTC on Privacy and Security.   The webinar is free and is archived at TRUSTe’s site. Here is a brief synopsis of the webinar: For the past nearly two decades, the FTC has risen to […]

Patient Access to Medical Records Under HIPAA: Significant Reform Needed

by Daniel J. Solove Recently, I wrote about the challenges in accessing health information about family members.  In this post, I will explore patients’ access to their own medical records. HIPAA doesn’t handle patient access to medical records very well. There are many misunderstandings about patient access under HIPAA that make it quite difficult for […]

HIPAA’s Friends and Family Network: Access to Health Information

by Daniel J. Solove Suppose your elderly mother is being treated at the hospital for a heart condition. Your mother tells her doctor that you can have access to her health information. The doctor, however, doesn’t disclose the information to you. The doctor thinks that you can only have the information with a signed written […]

OPM Data Breach Fallout, Fingerprints, and Other Privacy + Security Updates

By Daniel J. Solove Co-authored by Professor Paul Schwartz This post is part of a post series where we round up some of the interesting news and resources we’re finding. For a PDF version of this post, and for archived issues of previous posts, click here. We cover health issues in a separate post. News […]

Security Experts Critique Government Backdoor Access to Encrypted Data

by Daniel J. Solove In a recent report (link no longer available), MIT security experts critiqued calls by government law enforcement for backdoor access to encrypted information.  As the experts aptly stated: “Political and law enforcement leaders in the United States and the United Kingdom have called for Internet systems to be redesigned to ensure […]

Mr. Robot: My Review of the New TV Series

by Daniel J. Solove I’ve really been enjoying the new TV series Mr. Robot on USA. Network.  It presents highly-engaging depictions of hacking and social engineering, and it is great entertainment for privacy and security  geeks. The protagonist is Elliot Alderson (played by Rami Malek), a tech who works at a cybersecurity firm in New York City.  […]

Going Bankrupt with Your Personal Data

By Daniel J. Solove   A recent New York Times article discusses the issue of what happens to your personal data when companies go bankrupt or are sold to other companies: When sites and apps get acquired or go bankrupt, the consumer data they have amassed may be among the companies’ most valuable assets. And […]

Security Professionals in High Demand

by Daniel J. Solove According to a study, the number of cybersecurity job listings increased 74% from 2007 to 2013.  This was more than double the growth rate of IT jobs. In a survey earlier this year of ISACA members, 86% stated that there is a “global shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals.” According to a […]