Jump/Thumb Drives and PHI Don’t Mix
Friday, July 20th, 2012It is very common for the staff of small and medium sized healthcare organizations to store patient data on USB Flash Drives (a.k.a. Jump Drives or Thumb Drives). This is universally a bad idea and guarantees non-compliance with HIPAA. Below, I will discuss why and suggest some alternatives to accomplish the same ends.
While this article discusses USB Flash drives in particular, the same arguments hold for all portable media — full sized USB hard drives, writable CDs and DVDs, laptops, etc.
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