How You Can Achieve HIPAA Compliant Emailing with a Military-Grade Email Security Solution

Security and health have at least one thing in common: you only value them when they take a hit.

Nobody addresses the issue until the issue itself addresses them. People don’t learn from mistakes of others; they just wait until they “fall off the bicycle” themselves.

Are you sure you are in control of your “bike” and can handle the pain after “losing the steering wheel”?

And we’re not talking about physical falls here; we will talk about something that hurts much more – HIPAA compliance violations. Before we get to them, let’s find out what those five scary letters stand for.

What’s HIPPA and what is a HIPAA compliant email?

HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

It sets the standard for sensitive patient data securing, forcing organizations and companies to meet the requirements for network, physical and process security measures.

Needless to say, emails play a lead role in the exchange of sensitive data and those emails have to be cherished like the apple of your eye.

Business Associates (BA) and Covered Entities (CE) are the ones who need to comply with HIPAA regulations. CE are required to guard protected health information (PHI) and only disclose it to BA if they have affirmation that the confidential information will be used only in the allowed capacity.

HIPAA compliant email rules are based around the flow of electronic PHI, and that rule is designed to underline the importance of email transaction control.

By using 3rd party servers, you are putting the sensitive files of patients and your reputation in a tough spot. Partly because that party has to sign a Business Associate Agreement with you, which is not practical by any means. Practical or not, PHI must have end-to-end protection as only that guarantees you a HIPAA compliant email system.

HIPAA Compliance Violations

Metro Community Provider Network was penalized for $400.000 due to a negligence of security management process that led to a data breach in 2011.

This sum is only a fraction of fines that can sucker punch you out of the blue, as patients who got affected by the breach can also file a lawsuit against you that will make $400.000 seem like a drop in the sea. So how did MCPN get themselves in that pit?

The method of intrusion is not sparkling with originality – hacker sent phishing emails to MCPN staff and after getting replies from them, gained access to the main accounts that contained health data of 3200 people.

The most boring ways of break-ins are often the most dangerous ones, as they capitulate on a human factor.

The main reason behind such interest is as simple as “a-b-c” – hackers are targeting healthcare because PHI is valued highly on the black market.

HIPAA violations cases tripled over the last ten years, and the dynamics suggest that the number of targeted attacks on healthcare will keep growing, and that should really get your alarm bells ringing.

This is a relevant problem that needs to be addressed ASAP. As they say, you can’t buy health; you can only pay for it. You can also pay back for lack of cybersecurity in your company, but thankfully, security actually can be bought, unlike health.

How to Make Your Company HIPAA Compliant and Email Protection Secure?

Elite cybersecurity is a cornerstone for any modern company that operates online; it is an immune system that needs to be strengthened constantly. Shifting your emailing system from SMTP protocols to protected channels of communications is a move in the right direction.

A perfect solution is looming on the horizon, and it is called StealthMail.

StealthMail is a top-of-the-mountain military-grade email security solution that has 12+ years of experience in the field of security and data protection. It specializes in email encryption and top-notch email protection that makes your correspondence invisible to the Public Internet and invincible against targeted attacks. “How can I make my correspondence HIPAA compliant and email protection solid?” you may ask.

The sensitive user data never gets sent in its original form. Instead, it gets transferred and decoded by a patented algorithm and then gets stored in your company’s protected storage. Your Chief of Security can limit access to it if that’s necessary.

To view an email in StealthMail, you need to go through Stealth Authorization, and when you do, you will get one part of the encryption key from the server and another one from the inner storage of the device.

Additionally, both parts of the key are encrypted separately. Sensitive data is downloaded right from the company’s server or cloud, thus keeping it away from bandit-heavy SMTP servers.

All the data remains secure in a company’s storage, ensuring a maximal level of protection for the content.

StealthMail rules out the possibility of data breach through the eradication of email falsification, email editing, and email theft.

Not only will StealthMail protects you from the “man-in-the-middle” attacks, but it can also protect you from the costly mistakes of your employees. “Revoke” and “Shredder” options gives you total control over every aspect of email handling.

Last but not least, StealthMail doesn’t require integration in the existing IT-infrastructure of your company because it acts simply as a HIPAA compliant email Outlook add-in.

Become 100% HIPAA Compliant with StealthMail

By welcoming StealthMail to your company, you become HIPAA compliant without breaking a sweat. Safety is often put on the backburner for comfort reasons, but with StealthMail, you are not sacrificing your everyday practices. End-to-end encryption is easy; you shouldn’t be scared of it!

Remember – normal email was created with the priority of delivering messages, not security. 87% of emails sent by Gmail are encrypted, but that’s not good enough, and to be HIPAA compliant, you need full 100% security. It is possible to make your emails totally secure, but only within StealthMail.

It acts like a seatbelt – don’t blame that it doesn’t work if you don’t put it on.

To avoid the business traumas, you should really take the matter into your own hands and get a HIPAA compliant email service. Contact us at StealthMail.com to schedule a one-on-one free consultation and to find out more about the revolutionary email security solution.