AlertBoot New Encryption Compliance Reports Prepare Covered Entities For HIPAA Audits

Las Vegas, Nevada (PRWEB) January 23, 2014

AlertBoot, a leading provider of mobile device management and full disk encryption managed services, has seen a surge of interest in its services from HIPAA covered entities (CE) and business associates (BA). This high level of interest has been traced back to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) plan on launching a permanent program for auditing HIPAA compliance efforts in 2014.

Because the Federal Fiscal Year starts on October 1, CEs and BAs are rushing to ensure compliance with the Final Omnibus Rule, which went into effect in September 2013. Although the deadline was over four months ago, many businesses and organizations are still struggling with HIPAA compliance. The approaching permanent program audit scrutinizes all facets of HIPAA and not just technical ones like the presence of HIPAA-compliant full disk encryption prompting CEs and BAs to bolster any PHI data security weaknesses.

"OCR is really stepping up to the plate when it comes to HIPAA breaches," noted Tim Maliyil, CEO and founder of AlertBoot. "While HIPAA has been around since 1996, it's only in the past couple of years that the HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] received the tools and enforcement authority to go after those who don't comply. Now, OCR appears to be set in enacting a program with an eye towards preventing HIPAA breaches. Such an ambitious program requires funding, and there's a good chance it might come from OCR levying fines for HIPAA compliance issues."

Indeed, OCR Director Leon Rodriguez has been quoted as saying that "OCR 'will leverage more civil penalties'" and that the office has "approval to bank penalties it collects to fund enforcement actions across fiscal years."

HIPAA regulations cover a wide berth, from patients' room listings to data on electronic devices, and guidance from multiple experts is necessary in order to completely comprehend the issues. When it comes to laptop encryption, AlertBoot can aid the struggling organization.

The AlertBoot managed full disk encryption solution for laptops is a NIST-validated, FIPS 140-2 approved solution that uses AES-256 encryption. Because HHS defers to NIST when it comes to details regarding encryption technology, covered entities and business associates know that they've addressed HIPAA Security Rule requirements regarding data-at-rest encryption for laptops.

The integrated, customizable reporting facilitates audits and compliance reviews. AlertBoot users can easily prove that computers are encrypted thanks to the cloud-based aspect to the FDE deployment and installation logs, which report on a computer's encryption status throughout its service life. If the computer is lost or stolen, you can present this report as incontrovertible proof that the laptop was protected, triggering safe harbor provisions under the Breach Notification Rule.

A partial list of benefits include:

Learn today why HIPAA covered entities and business associates trust AlertBoot for their data security compliance requirements by contacting sales@alertboot.com.

See the original post here:

AlertBoot New Encryption Compliance Reports Prepare Covered Entities For HIPAA Audits