Proper use of backup tape management helps in medical data breach

By Michael
August 11, 2014

There’s been major shifts in the health care industry over the last few years. More Americans than ever before have access to affordable medical assistance, while the quality and consistency of care is improving thanks to the increasing proliferation of electronic medical records.

However, all this digitization isn’t necessarily serve as an immediate enhancement for providers. In fact, without the proper backup tape management, data breach risks are on the rise.

Employee Benefit News reported that there are significant continuity and compliance errors taking place in the health care world. Most of these, nearly 95 percent, are due to ignorance and lack of systems management. At the same time that user carelessness is spiking, so too is the cost of a HIPAA breach – a single penalty can reach as much as $1.5 million in fines.

Proper handling and backup tape management can help relieve these issues, but only so long as firms are making use of proper tracking and control solutions. EBN stated that one company, Trinity Health Corporation, actually suffered a breach when one of its tapes was lost during a shipment.

This case highlights an ongoing problem in the enterprise world that’s as old as the system itself. Specifically, companies need for personnel to use data storage and management systems in the proper way.

Data Center Knowledge wrote that backup tape management isn’t meant to act as generic file storage, be it for day-to-day or long-term file housing. These assets need to be dedicated to system recovery and compliance oversight, rather than reassigned to archive or basic storage capacities.

Using B&L’s Vertices can help corporations properly assign usage parameters for backup tape management. This software makes it easy to find necessary cartridges and created automated workflow processes for enhanced accountability and data breach control.

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