Will Email Ever Be Truly Secure?
Tuesday, November 6th, 2018Email gateways are a leading cause of security breaches. The optimistic view is that effective email security practices, firewalls, mobile device security, wireless security, endpoint security, web security, behavioral best practices, data loss prevention and network access control – among other solutions – can ensure foolproof security. The realistic view is that email – or anything for that matter – cannot be truly secure.
To err is human. Technology advancement is a boon and a bane: cyber attacks are more sophisticated than before. You can trust no one security solution, place your full trust on end-to-end encryption (currently the most secure way to communicate securely and privately online) or predict when someone will break into your device and access your email.
The road to HIPAA compliance is paved with many risks, possibilities and outcomes. Well-researched and thoughtful implementations are essential but there are many decisions to make and loose ends to tie up. Your ePHI protection, privacy and confidentiality practices may be excellent, but your employees may still mistakenly dispose of a fax machine or hard drive that contains retrievable PHI. Or some of your staff may fail to observe the policy of what needs to be encrypted and what does not.
And if you thought that email encryption, cryptographic protocols and even your computer system and CPU were protecting your data at all times, think again…
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