February 23, 2018
NP Privacy Partner
Author(s): Michal E. Ovadia, Jena M. Grady
Cleaning crew mishap leads to potential data breach, OCR imposes penalties for HIPAA violations of a closed business and an Indiana court awards damages in one of the first lawsuits to successfully allege defamation based on a Facebook post. Here’s what’s trending in data privacy and cybersecurity.
This potential breach is a cautionary tale for those who handle protected health information on a daily basis. In recent years, there has been a strong focus on cybersecurity to safeguard confidential information stored electronically; however, it is equally important to ensure that hard copies of sensitive information are stored, shared and disposed of in a safe manner.—Michal Ovadia
On February 14, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that a receiver appointed to liquidate the assets of Filefax, Inc. agreed to pay $100,000 out of the receivership estate to OCR to settle possible violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.—Jena Grady
Earlier this month, a Small Claims Court in Indiana ordered a defendant to pay $6,000 in damages for defaming a plaintiff on Facebook.–Megan K. McGuire
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