HITECH Act and HIPAA Compliance: How to Secure Personal Information

Educating and training users

Since the majority of leaks occur from an employee's lack of awareness, educating users is a top priority. Education may occur in the traditional sense; however, a data protection system that includes sophisticated dialog prompts provides "on the job training" of compliance and security policies. This unanticipated side benefit can both prevent a breach as well as train users. If an employee is about to send sensitive data unknowingly, he might be notified through a message prompt.

When data is appropriately protected, encrypted and secured, federal and state breach notifications can be avoided. In the long run, organizations can save a significant amount of money and avoid embarrassment and loss of public/consumer trust by deploying the right data protection and leakage prevention solution. Look for a comprehensive solution that is transparent and provides the right balance between productivity and protection.

The goal for all holders of sensitive data should be to pay a few dollars now to avoid paying much, much more later. Dollars, customers, credibility and potential lawsuits are all at stake.

Gil Sever is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Safend. Prior to founding Safend, Gil held several senior-level positions within the security industry. Gil served as COO of ECTEL, a leading provider of monitoring solutions for IP, telephony and cellular networks. He also held the position of Israel Site Manager and VP of R&D for Aeroscout (formerly Bluesoft), a company focusing on WiFi and Bluetooth location finding.

Prior to his positions in the private sector, Gil served 18 years in the Israeli Defense Forces where he managed strategic planning and large-scale R&D groups and projects in the areas of communications, communication protocols and data security. Gil has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Tel Aviv University. He can be reached at Gil.Sever@safend.com.