NCCoE Publishes Draft Guide for Increasing Electronic Medical Data Security

The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) released the first draft of a step-by-step guide to show healthcare providers how to better secure smartphones and mobile devices to protect patient information, a National Institute of Standards and Technology news release said Friday. The draft, first in a series of publications meant to teach businesses and organizations how to improve cybersecurity, instructs medical IT personnel on ways to decrease the risks of patient information theft by increasing the security of mobile devices used to transmit the data, said NIST. "This guide can help providers protect critical patient information without getting in the way of delivering quality care," said NCCoE Director Donna Dodson. NIST also said the use of mobile devices to "store, access and transmit electronic healthcare records is outpacing the privacy and security protections on those devices." The NCCoE requests comments on the draft be submitted to the center by Sept. 25.