Overview
Public health organizations need to protect the confidentiality of sensitive, identifying information about individuals to maintain the willingness of individuals to disclose such information and to adhere to laws affecting the handling of health information. Safeguarding the privacy, confidentiality, and security of such information is an important undertaking. A public health organization needs to adhere to the basic principles of fair information practices, as incorporated into the Privacy Act of 1974, and to develop and enforce confidentiality policies that govern the handling and release of public health data. Among security measures that an organization can institute to protect the integrity of information and guard against unauthorized access to it are passwords, smart cards, biometrics, and cryptography. In addition, a public health organization needs to be especially vigilant about potential intrusions into its computer systems, and particularly of those systems that rely or reside on the Internet. The use of proxy servers, session password mechanisms, and firewalls can help guard against mischievous attacks from the Internet, while intrusion detection measures can help an organization detect efforts to compromise systems.
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References
Records, Computers and the Rights of Citizens: Report of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems. Washington, DC: US Department of Health, Education and Welfare; 1973. Also available at: http://aspe.hhs.gov/datacncl/1973privacy/tocprefacemembers.htm.
O’Brien D, Yasnoff W. Privacy, confidentiality, and security in information systems of state health agencies. Am J Prev Med 1999;16:351–358.
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© 2003 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
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Yasnoff, W.A. (2003). Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security of Public Health Information. In: O’Carroll, P.W., Ripp, L.H., Yasnoff, W.A., Ward, M.E., Martin, E.L. (eds) Public Health Informatics and Information Systems. Health Informatics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22745-8_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-22745-8_10
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
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