Navigating regulation challenges for protecting sensitive healthcare data

This article originally appeared on Help Net Security’s website.

Chris Bowen, CISO & Founder at ClearDATA, emphasizes the importance of digital health companies being more transparent with their users.

As more and more Americans flock to direct-to-consumer digital health apps and resources, most people don’t know that the sensitive health data they share with these companies could be passed on to third parties or sold to data brokers without a single consent form.

A survey conducted by The Harris Poll found that 81% of Americans falsely believe that data collected by digital health apps is protected under HIPAA.

The survey also found that younger generations are more likely to choose convenience over privacy, with 54% of Americans ages 18-34 saying the privacy and security of their personal health information was not as important to them as convenience. In comparison, 69% of those over age 65 disagreed, putting a higher premium on privacy and security.

Watch Chris’s video on the Help Net Security website.