Password systems are good steps to protecting your patient data in your office.
However, what if someone stole your laptop with your patient data? Would you be liable?
According to most national security regulations, password protection alone is simply not good enough. The failure to encrypt data on your laptop could make you liable, forcing you to publically disclose the loss of a patient database.
To put it another way, if your patient data is not encrypted, it is not 100% safe.
There are a number of drive encryption platforms available, including Microsoft’s free BitLocker Drive Encryption.
You can use BitLocker to help protect your files on an entire drive. BitLocker can help block hackers from accessing the system files they rely on to discover your password, or from accessing your drive by physically removing it from your PC and installing it in a different one. You can still sign in to Windows and use your files as you normally would.
For more information on Microsoft Bitlocker for Windows, click here:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831713.aspx
Q: Is drive encryption good enough to fully safe guard data at rest?
A: No, it does not safeguard against rogue software or malicious code that may make it onto a computer. Click here for more information.