CLOUD: Consortium for Local Ownership and Use of Data, Inc. » Security http://www.cloudinc.org The Power of People. Connected. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:01:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Digital Debacle for EHRs in Britain: The Challenge of Using 19th Century Thinking to Solve 21st Century Problems http://www.cloudinc.org/cloud-health/digital-debacle-for-ehrs-in-britain-the-challenge-of-using-19th-century-thinking-to-solve-21st-century-problems/ http://www.cloudinc.org/cloud-health/digital-debacle-for-ehrs-in-britain-the-challenge-of-using-19th-century-thinking-to-solve-21st-century-problems/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:42:10 +0000 Gary http://www.cloudinc.org/?p=219 Last week’s Daily Telegraph in the UK reveals the challenges we will face with EHRs in the United States if we do not change our perspective on the solution before cementing 19th century approaches into rules at HHS. “Patient’s Medical Records Go Online Without Consent,” by Kate Develin does an excellent job of looking at the implications of seeing this as a records problem rather than a patients problem.  EHRs divorced from the patients to whom they belong is at the heart of the digital debacle in Britain.

The following quote is at the very heart of the privacy issue:

The “summary” records contain basic medical information including illnesses, vaccination history, and could include medication patients have been given. Ages and addresses are also included. (emphasis added)

The issue with privacy on the Internet today is that the data silos into which our records are poured not only include What I Am™ but Who I Am™.  The combination of critical health information, in this case, along with personally identifying information is at the heart of the privacy issue.  If one can separate Who I Am™ from What I Am™, then the privacy issue begins to change, since the NHS database may have the What, but it won’t have the Who.  The patient, along with their doctor, are in charge of connecting Who to What.  No opting out… simply better control… and putting the ownership of the data into its rightful place, the individual.

Approaches, like OpenID, regretfully, are only a part of the solution to this EHR ownership issue. By facilitating “logging in” to web pages and making it  possible to more quickly take all of my information and put it into yet another web and data silo, they don’t change the privacy problem.  They accelerate it.  Their home page states this very clearly, “Log into 50,000 websites with a single username.” Even the OpenID Foundation accepts the world of web sites as a given: “OpenID is a safe, faster and easier way to log into websites.”  OpenID’s challenge is that it accepts the browser and web paradigm of the past 15 years and does not go to the heart of the Internet that was ushered in by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn 40 years ago.

Katherine Murphy, of the Patients Association, quoted in the article, says it best: “The Health Service should not put in place bureaucratic obstacles to patient choice because they are worried about what patients might choose to do.”

CLOUD seeks to fix a broken Internet, so that patients can have that choice.

]]> http://www.cloudinc.org/cloud-health/digital-debacle-for-ehrs-in-britain-the-challenge-of-using-19th-century-thinking-to-solve-21st-century-problems/feed/ 1 Express Scripts data breach: Isolated Incident or Endemic Problem? http://www.cloudinc.org/cloud-health/express-scripts-data-breach-isolated-incident-on-endemic-problem/ http://www.cloudinc.org/cloud-health/express-scripts-data-breach-isolated-incident-on-endemic-problem/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:17:07 +0000 Gary http://www.cloudinc.org/?p=135 Express Scripts data breach may have hit 700,000 victims

SC Magazine | Chuck Miller | October 1, 2009

Last year’s data breach of St. Louis-based Express Scripts may be more serious than initially believed.

In November 2008, the major pharmacy benefit management firm said it received an anonymous letter that included the names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and, in some cases, prescription information of 75 members. The writer or writers threatened to release millions of more records if the business failed to pay an unspecified sum of money.

In the last two months, based on new information from the extortionists, Express Scripts began notifying more than 700,000 victims of their personal information may have been compromised.

CLOUD Take: It is interesting that a data breach that affected 700,000 people is perceived as a breach of Express Scripts.  Although the point of loss may have been systems at Express Scripts, there were 700,000 breaches, not one.Privacy and security are inextricably linked, and it is CLOUD’s Take that as long as information about “who I am” exists in the same databases as information about “what I am” the problem will continue.  Crafting a new language for the Internet that allows these to be separated will help both individuals and organizations, like Express Scripts.

After initially notifying only the 75 victims from last year, the company in August was told by the FBI that “…the perpetrator of the earlier action had recently forwarded a letter and data file to a law firm,” according to the company’s website.

Maria Palumbo, spokeswoman for Express Scripts, would not elaborate on the contents of the letter.

“The FBI is conducting the investigation that was opened last fall,” she told SCMagazineUS.com Thursday. “It is still ongoing.”

The website points out, however, that FBI special agents contacted Express Scripts immediately, and the news was not good.

“The data shows that the extortionist possesses additional member records from the same period of time as those identified in the 2008 extortion attempt,” according to the website. “Express Scripts is in the process of notifying these members.”

According to Palumbo, most of the 700,000 notifications were sent as a result of the August FBI action.

The data thieves still threaten to expose the Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates and prescription information of millions of patients of the pharmacy benefit management firm unless the company pays an undisclosed sum in extortion money. The company has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the extortionists.

CLOUD Take: The $1M reward is a visible sign of the cost of this problem and likely doesn’t include the cost to the 700,000 individuals.  Although Express Scripts may be at the point of this needle, it is CLOUD’s perspective that it is the “data silo” problem and lack of other solutions that are the bigger problem. We wish Express Scripts the best of luck in its work with the FBI and its members to bring this situation to a successful conclusion.

]]> http://www.cloudinc.org/cloud-health/express-scripts-data-breach-isolated-incident-on-endemic-problem/feed/ 2 Bank Technology News Reports Consumers Want to Control Personal Information http://www.cloudinc.org/cloud-finance/bank-technology-news-reports-consumers-want-to-control-personal-information/ http://www.cloudinc.org/cloud-finance/bank-technology-news-reports-consumers-want-to-control-personal-information/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:00:34 +0000 Paul http://www.cloudinc.org/?p=114 James Van Dyke writes in the Oct. 2009 Bank Technology News that new research shows more than 80% of bank customers see themselves as part of security solutions. This is good news for safer and more efficient use of data in all Internet transactions.

With consumers seeking greater participation in their security, banks, issuers, merchants, and vendors can take advantage of the tremendous growth opportunities in the financial security sector. Security professionals can improve their ability to fund strategic investments in customer-partnered security methods, using factual research data to bolster business cases with benefits such as increased customer acquisition, cross-selling, loyalty, and increased preference at point-of purchase.

CLOUD’s priority is the creation of standards to make consumer control over their own information faster, easier and less expensive.

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