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Electronic Medical Records for Healthcare – Are they safe? EMR, EHR

Electronic Medical Records

Electronic Medical Records Could Pose a Threat to Your Privacy & Security

It is no surprise that Electronic Healthcare Records / Electronic Medical Records are all over the news currently. It is an issue that affects our privacy and anytime that is in question, we get people on both sides of the fence up in arms.

Built into the 2009 stimulus bill are requirements that healthcare records go digital by 2014. Yet it is not mandated exactly how that be done, nor how that is to be protected. If you Google around a little bit you will find websites and forums dedicated to this topic. Obviously more is being said about the policy itself than the mechanics of it. I won’t get into what I believe here, but I will cover some specifics about how medical facilities are handling this requirement.

Some doctors in small practices are already digital, or at least using a blend of paper records and electronic records. They may be storing them in various formats, from scanning the paper documents and storing images of them on a computer, to having full fledged professionally written and mainstream client management systems, but the majority I am aware of in family practices go for the cheapest way out in order to have their data on computers. The advantages of having digital copies are that they can back it up offsite in case of  a catastrophe and, they can access it from another location besides their own office, in the event they need to do so.

Now for the downsides. These systems have the exact same vulnerabilities that your desktop PC has, because they are using nothing more than the standard desktop PC. IF they are at all concerned about HIPAA they may have some safeguards in place, but time and time again, I hear about computers with some of the following issues:

No backup system in place: Not a threat to YOUR data, but all that information could be lost.

No anti-virus, or outdated / non-functional anti-virus: Of course this is a huge issue and could pose the largest threat. Even though anti-virus, like Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security is affordable, many doctors fail to realize the importance of this, or feel that using a FREE product is fine, when in fact it is against the terms of usage for those “free” products to be used in business.

Machines not patched: Another common-place problem is for computers to go without updates from Microsoft (or even Apple if they are using Mac OS-X) which make for extremely vulnerable systems – one part-time employee gets bored and browses to the wrong site and a bad guy now has access to everything inside that doctor’s office because the OS had big gaping holes in it, or applications such as Adobe Flash were unpatched.

Hardware firewall not in use or outdated: Many people believe the firewall on their PC (either built-in one or one provided by an anti-virus solution) is adequate and all they have in place is a Linksys, D-Link or other router. Firewalls keep bad guys from getting in, or at least slow them down. Quality devices from Cisco, WatchGuard, SonicWALL, Zyxel are affordable these days, however many opt to leave them out of the mix. A common excuse I hear is that the ISP provides their firewall, in the form of an Adtran or even a Cisco router, but nobody is aware of whether it has the latest software loaded on it. Any firewall in place is better than none, but one that is not up to date is vulnerable to someone who really wants in.

These are just a few of the more common issues that can make Electronic Medical Records vulnerable to disclosure. The list is a long one, and it is best to enlist the assistance of a computer service provider to evaluate your network. In fact, it would be a good idea to have more than one network support specialist look over your network if you are in the medical field. If you are in the Greenville or Upstate SC area, please call upon us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com if you would like more information. We are authorized dealers for Cisco, Trend Micro, SonicWall, Zyxel, WatchGuard, Servosity Online Backup and more.

If you worry about the security of your medical records, ask your healthcare provider to provide you with information that shows what they are doing to protect your privacy.

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Bloggers can post directly to WordPress using Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010

Do you have a blog and tire of entering your entries through the WordPress web interface? Sure, some people post using Outlook and email their blog entries, but using Word to publish is another great weapon in your arsenal.

Using Microsoft Office 2010, you can simplify your life a little by composing the posting in the familiar Word editor and then publish to your WordPress blog!

How do you do this? Easy as pie…

Step 1: Get a blog! Oh wait, you already have one or you wouldn’t be reading this.

Step 2: Get Microsoft Office 2010 (or 2007).

Step 3: Write your blog entry in Word and when ready to publish, select “File” from the pull down, then “Save & Send” and finally “Publish as Blog Post”

Step 4: The first time you do this, you will be prompted to “Register a Blog Account”… Select “Register Now”

Step 5: Select the type of blog you have, such as WordPress, Blogger, Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint blog, etc…  I’ll go with WP from here on….

Step 6: You need to enter the path to your xmlrpc.php, such as: http://www.yourblog.com/wordpress/xmlrpc.php

Step 7: Enter the user name and password you use to log into your blog and select “OK” (Select “Remember Password” if you trust nobody is going to use your computer and enter silly blog posts for you)

Step 8: Profit… Uhmm okay, maybe not…  Let’s try that again… Step 8: Post something interesting to the blogospher for the rest of us to read!

If you have not tried out Microsoft Office 2010 yet, you can download a free trial, or you can purchase from your favorite Microsoft Partner, like US! Call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com for additional information.

Eaton power protection products could save your computers & servers #greenville #upstate

Lightning Strike

One lightning strike can ruin your whole day...

This last week has been a bad week for computers in Greenville & the Upstate.  I don’t know what it is, but we have had computers come in with fried power supplies, toasted motherboards and hard drives, and a call from a potential client this morning with a dead PC and a destroyed hard drive.

Power protection experts estimate that over half of all dead power supplies could have been prevented if an UPS / Uninterruptable Power Supply had been used. That’s a lot of power supplies! And more importantly, that is a lot of money that consumers could potentially save.

While the power supply itself is not expensive, usually costing less than 100 dollars on most computers, the damage that a power supply can cause to the PC can be much greater. We have seen entire motherboards ripped apart and even fires on the extreme end of the spectrum, and lesser damage such as zapped memory, processors, and hard drives on the other end. At the very least, a power supply that fails will cost you in terms of time and inconvenience.

Should a hard drive be damaged by one of these power events, you could potentially lose everything on the drive, or need to send it out for recovery if you don’t have backups. What? You don’t have backups? Please try our FREE trial of Servosity Online Backup before it is too late….

What can you do to protect yourself? Install an UPS! We are proud to be Eaton Power Advantage partners and can offer the full line of Eaton products. They have an UPS for every application, from your small home system, home office, small, medium and large business, all the way up to enterprise and data center solutions!  Don’t forget about your expensive Apple Mac systems, CCTV and VoIP systems, they need protection too!

Please check out the Eaton Product Showcase at http://www.homelandsecureit.com/Partners/Eaton-Power-Products.html

Or, call us for more information at 864-990-4748 – email info@homelandsecureit.com

Secure IT Alert: Microsoft and Oracle vulnerabilities and patches available

Secure IT Alert Header

Homeland Secure IT Alert

 These are from CERT and affect Microsoft & Oracle. There are patches available.

Microsoft Releases July Security Bulletin

added July 13, 2010 at 01:25 pm

Microsoft has released updates to address vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows and Office as part of the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for July 2010. These vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the bulletins and follow best-practice security policies to determine which updates should be applied.

NOTE: To summarize, these updates Microsoft Windows desktop and server OS, and Microsoft Office – Please apply updates ASAP.

Oracle Releases Critical Patch Update for July 2010

added July 13, 2010 at 04:03 pm

Oracle has released its Critical Patch Update for July 2010 to address 59 vulnerabilities across multiple products. This update contains the following security fixes:

  • 6 for Oracle Database Server
  • 2 for TimesTen In-Memory Database
  • 5 for Oracle Secure Backup
  • 7 for Oracle Fusion Middleware
  • 1 for Oracle Enterprise Manager
  • 7 for Oracle E-Business Suite
  • 2 for Oracle Supply Chain Products Suite
  • 8 for Oracle PeopleSoft and JDEdwards Suite
  • 21 for Oracle Sun Products Suite

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the July 2010 Critical Patch Update and apply any necessary updates to help mitigate the risks.

If you require assistance applying these patches / updates, please do not hesitate to call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@HomelandSecureIT.com

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Homeland Secure IT Alert - Contact Info

Using Microsoft Exchange 2007 or 2010? Let’s stop some spam with Trend Micro

Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security Anti SPAM

Stop the spam with Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security Advanced

Businesses using Microsoft Exchange 2007 and 2010 have many opportunities to stop spam dead in its tracks!

Microsoft expanded spam filtering with the release of Exchange 2007 over the previous Exchange 2k3 release and it does an admirable job once configured correctly and a few RBLs (Real-time Block Lists) are setup, but don’t stop there for sure. By using Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security Advanced, or Trend Micro Scan Mail on your Exchange server, the flow of spam can turn to a trickle!

Trend Micro’s anti-spam products are amazing. Our clients enjoy near spam-free inboxes without purchasing costly Barracuda or other anti-spam appliances. Viruses, trojans, worms, spyware, malware, spam are all stopped before they reach your inbox…  You can also block content, such as profanity, certain phrases, and even the transmission of social security numbers, and other important data. Stop chain-mail. Block attachments and more…

Now if only the Old Spice Guy would make a commercial for us..   “John M. Hoyt & Homeland Secure IT can install Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security and stop your spam problems, while I stand here and look good”…

Call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com for more information about Trend Micro products! We offer national sales. Service & installation is available to Upstate / Greenville businesses and individuals.

Access your VoIP phone system from iPhone or Blackberry and take your office with you!

iphone switchvox app

iPhone Switchvox app lets you take your office phone with you!

How many times have you left your office while waiting for an important call to come in? What did you do? Set a special voice mail greeting? Forward all calls to your cell phone?

That’s what most people have done, until now. If you are lucky enough to have a VoIP phone system such as a Digium Switchvox solution and an iPhone or Blackberry, you can literally take your office phone with you now.

Your VoIP system is configured to allow mobile API, the firewall is configured to allow the proper ports through to your VoIP system and your phone gets the app loaded and configured. That’s it, you now have full access to your phone system. You can make and receive calls on your phone either from the cellular provider phone line, or via your VoIP system at your office.

You can call extensions, change your voice mail greetings, and any other function that you could from your desk phone. You would never miss an incoming call, and possibly more important to some, calls made from your cell phone while in the field, via the VoIP system, would never reveal your private cell phone number.

Another added benefit is that using the VoIP system will let you use your phone calling plan from your office, and bypass the phone plan on your cell phone entirely. This could save you hundreds per year!

Official apps are available for the iPhone and Blackberry, and some unofficial apps are available for Android phones.

If you would like more information about or would like to purchase a VoIP phone system, we are partners with Digium, Cisco and work with all Asterisk based systems in the Greenville & Upstate area. Please call us at 864.990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com with questions!

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Need computer repair in Greenville, Easley, Anderson, Spartanburg? #greenville

Sure Homeland Secure IT is based in Greenville, SC, but we service the entire UPSTATE of SC.

Our service area includes: Greenville, Easley, Anderson, Simpsonville, Duncan, Greer, Taylors, Travelers Rest, Spartanburg, Piedmont, Pendleton, Clemson, Pelzer, Six Mile, The Cliffs area, Fountain Inn, Welcome community, Seneca, and the entire Upstate of South Carolina.

If you require computer repair, service or support and live in any of these great cities, call us! Services performed in our office, your office or your home. Everything from simple virus removal and cleanup, to system installations, software / application installations, Microsoft Windows & Server updates.

864-990-4748 or info@homelandsecureit.com – http://www.HomelandSecureIT.com/

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Continuous Data Protection – Servosity Online Backup Offers It!

Mushroom Cloud

Servosity - Now with continuous data protection goodness!

I’ve heard every excuse in the book for not backing up data. Too much trouble, too expensive, too time consuming, slows the computer down while the backup is running, etc.  Until today.

I actually had a discussion in which the individual told me that backups were useless because they were not real-time, and that using a backup program like Symantec’s Backup Exec or even an online backup solution like Servosity was a scheduled backup and data had potential to be lost between the time you saved it, and the time it was backed up to the media or remote server.

Then, I dropped the bombshell…  There is such a thing as “Continuous Backup Protection”. Symantec offers it of course, but this person was totally against a hardware solution that was on premise, so I told him about Servosity’s offering. Where you can have a regular backup taking place after hours, but for critical data, you could have that backup immediately when you save it! And, if you wanted, you could set it up to backup the entire system in near real-time! Kind of a mirror of your data, on a remote, secure server where each file that is saved or modified is synced with the remote system.

This is where cloud computing, or Software as a Service (SaaS) really shines! If you backup instantly, to a remote location, and a horrific incident occurs, say a tornado, fire, flood, or even theft of your equipment, you have access to it over the internet! A perfect solution for business continuity plans.

Servosity can protect a single workstation or a thousand, a fleet of mobile computers, your Mac OS X, Windows Servers, Exchange, SQL, Linux, and so much more!

If you would like more information about Servosity or other Continuous Backup solutions, please call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com

ASK ABOUT OUR FREE TRIAL OF SERVOSITY!

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iPad and tablet computers finding their way into business

Apple iPad

Apple iPad being used more and more for business

My initial reaction to the iPad was that it was cute little toy, but then immediately after its release it became apparent that people wanted to use them for business as well as pleasure. First was the use of Remote Desktop (Terminal Services), which I wrote about and has been finding extreme popularity, then of course was Microsoft Exchange integration to get corporate mail and with that came ways to get connectivity without buying the 3G version of the iPad, using a MiFi from Verizon, and ultimately, hacking the iPad itself and putting a MiFi inside the iPad.

Now that some time has passed since the release of the iPad, we see that many companies and even government organizations have adopted them for real business use. Case in point, the Ontario, CA City Council has begun using the tablet computers and that alone shows how a new technology is changing the way we do business.

I’m seeing more and more interest in these highly portable devices from business users and as more manufacturers develop and release their products, we may see a tablet computing revolution, where the day planners, notebooks, notepads, and even post-it notes go in the trash in favor of this digital ink. And the SaaS (Software as a Service) model will make a lot of providers wealthy.

Businesses who want to get in on this phenomenon should talk to their IT provider to see how easily this technology can be integrated into their networks. Your computer service provider can help you get your pad /tablet computer linked to your corporate Microsoft Exchange mail, setup clients that allow you to remote to your Microsoft Server and much more!

If we can be of any assistance in the Greenville / Upstate area, please call us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com

We’re going to have tablet computers coming out of our ears soon!

Google Android

The Android Wars Are Coming

The tablet computer wars are coming…  The awesome little Apple iPad will soon have serious competition from some big names in desktop, laptop and notebook computers….

Cisco, Lenovo, Toshiba, HP and LG, to name a few have either made plans to release pad / tablet computers, or have actually got a product to offer. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

No longer will you have to choose an Apple iPad, you will be able to select tablets based on the Google Android operating system, which will instantly provide you with tons of apps from the Android scene, and when HP gets their WebOS based system out, which was really part of the Palm lineup, that will be yet another platform for the tablet market. We shouldn’t forget about Microsoft (which some of you would love to), as they have an OS that is working on tablets also.

So how will you decide which is the best solution for you? It may come down to dollars and cents for some, while others may select based upon devices they already own. I was sure that most Mac and iPhone users would opt for an iPad out of owner loyalty to the brand, but the Android offering seems to be getting a lot of attention among the current Apple owners, enough so that they are holding out for the Android pads to hit the market!

Only time will tell who will come out on top, but my money is on the consumer in the end, as they are going to get many choices and the competition between brands and platforms will help bring the prices down!

There may be a few of you who want to be early adopters of the Android tablet and purchase an imported product. Buyer beware here – they may not support the new Android OS due out later this year…

Homeland Secure IT offers tablet computers built on the proven Windows platform currently, and as soon as HP releases their WebOS based product, we will offer that as well as any other products which are suited to business use mainly, like the Android Powered Cisco Cius tablet. Please contact us at 864-990-4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com for more information