Encrypt SSN and Credit Card #

[jordansparks]

Copied from another thread posted by Yorek:
with identity theft making the headlines almost every day,
Are there any plans to encrypt patients' Social Security and Credit card #'s?

No matter how hard we try, laptops get stolen, USB drives get lost and we even hire a bad person unknowingly.

I try not to think of the implications but if the worst happens..
We'd have to send out letters to all our patients telling them we goofed,
their id's are at risk and now we'd like to pay for 1year of subscription to one of those Credit agencies. Ugh.

Is it possible to require a password to allow
full access to: enter, view or change the entire numbers.
(encryption in the actual data base if feasible)

Once entered, only ******* and the last 3 or 4 digits can be seen for verification.
(internal office policies already 'persuade' users not to leave their active workstations un-attended).

It would save an incredible amount of money, time and anxiety if this info should ever become compromised.

I'm sure there are many ways to do it and your already keenly aware of the huge amount of programing needed.
But I just thought I ask.

[jordansparks]

The programming isn't too hard. A simple symmetric encryption strategy would make those numbers unreadable in the database. And the current security framework would prevent unauthorized access. We would probably also have to encrypt insurance subscriber id's because those are frequently the same as SSNs.

So yes, I'll put this on the planned features list. The programming strategy is more clear than it was in the past.

[sparkly]

yorek, that's a really good suggestion!! and it's fabulous to hear that this may be relatively easily programmed in.

[sparkly]

yorek, that's a really good suggestion!! and it's fabulous to hear that this may be relatively easily programmed in.

[steveng]

Once entered, only ******* and the last 3 or 4 digits can be seen for verification.

How do you get the information to call Insurance for eligibility?

This has to be controlled somehow.

[sparkly]

Once entered, only ******* and the last 3 or 4 digits can be seen for verification.

How do you get the information to call Insurance for eligibility?

that's what the password would be for. or maybe it could be set up as a right in the login? or it could be one of those short-acting passwords where you input the password and it lets you see the info for 10 min and then it logs itself out...like session in-activites on bank sites for example. would any of that be convenient to program in AND be staff friendly (and un-obnoxious)?

[Yorek]

I'm glad this topic was received so favorably.

My thoughts were.. clearance would be given with the "permitted user's" log on (ie password).
A time-out could be set up individually by each office in administrators' preferences.

Lot's of cool ways and things to do with this.
It's up to Doc S.

I can't help but think, If the other expensive dinosaur software Co's don't have this yet,,
Open Dental would be the 1st,
Leading the way for this pretty important issue
And setting the bar higher for excellence.


Implications for SALES could be significant.
You could add this as another line on to one of those comparison charts of OD vs Them.

(I can see the sweat starting to form on their worried faces!)


PS
It'd be a good idea for the medical Hx's and scanned documents to be encrypted as well,
since they have the same information we're talking about.

Thanks Again.

[wjstarck]

Any serious discussion along this vein should take into consideration the PCI Data Security Standard:

https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/tech/index.htm

AFAIK, *any* merchant that accepts credit cards needs to be in compliance with the standards, or risk hefty fines by Visa et al. should a breach occur.

Would they go after a dental office?...dunno

[sparkly]

I can't help but think, If the other expensive dinosaur software Co's don't have this yet, Open Dental would be the 1st, Leading the way for this pretty important issue And setting the bar higher for excellence.

hey, yeah!

[Yorek]

Except for maybe the last 4 digits of a credit card, (which is needed to tell a patient their card is no longer is active), the only employee needing access to private data is the insurance person once the info is entered into the system.

So these are always "locked up."

Occationally someone other than the insurance person may have to get access to the SS# or other secured id.

A nice touch would be an small "combination-lock" next to what ever item or folder that is partially viewable, hidden or encrypted.

Seeing the lock is logical way to say, hey this is encrypted and.. intuitively clicking on it would open a pop-up box for the password and give one time view of the data.


Sounds like the development team has this one under control.

[wjstarck]

More food for thought:

VISA Fined TJX Processor for Security Breach
By Evan Schuman
October 28, 2007

Court documents disclose that Visa fined TJX's card processor $880,000 because of massive data security violations.

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2208563,00.asp

[jordansparks]

Since 9 million records were stolen, that works out to about a fine of 10 cents per record. So maybe the risk to a dental office with 5000 patients is something like $500 plus lots of bad publicity. This is a little bit tongue in cheek. I am well aware that the risk doesn't necessarily scale like that.

[enamelrod]

Is this another item we need to vote for? and is it viable to ask for the ability to add security so only certain persons can see the info such as cc info and ss?

[richardwaite]

Is there any reason why *all* personally identifiable information (PII) could not be encrypted in the database? This would be more secure as the raw database would be useless without decrypting the PII (you could only see an encrypted "blob" representing the PII of a patient and treatment data which would be meaningless without context). I'd appreciate any input on the matter as this is something I have been thinking about for a long time.

[jordansparks]

There's not really any reason why that couldn't be done other than limitations on our time. Vote for that feature request.

[Yorek]

Can we please include scanned documents on this 'voted' feature.

It'd be easier to know the entire program is 'bullet proof' secure from the 'factory'
and not have to resort to manually encrypting the files ourselves.

I'm not that geekish and don't want to leave the front door open by 'accident'!
(I was never any good at tuning my '67 Chevy either)

Keep up the great work.
Thanks

[jordansparks]

That's totally different. Turning on folder encryption in Windows is really really easy. Yes, we should add instructions in our manual.

[Yorek]

So as I said, I was no Geek. (no insult meant).

Here's what I did to try to encrypt a 'test' folder in my doc's
It didn't seem to work..

Clicking sequences..
-----------------------------------
Right clicked the 'Test' folder
Selected..
sharing and security
general tab
Advanced
encrypt
Apply..
Choose..
>Option to select
this folder or all subfolders (I chose all)
Apply
turn on 'Folder Tasks'
turns folder and all subfiles green

Result..
NO password and
The 'Test' folder and it's files opens normally
No security apparent.
-----------------------------
So can anyone give the coorect sequence to securing the image folder using Windows?
and does it have to done manually every day morning and end of day?
Or can this be automated with openning and signing into Open Dental?

Many thanks.

[jordansparks]

The encryption is only not apparent because you're accessing it through Windows. Just set up password to prevent a thief from stealing your computer and getting in to Windows. If they take the hard drive out, the encryption that you just turned on prevents them from accessing those files. So you did it just right.

[DrK]

SO can we use this method to encrypt the database folder?
does this affect backup & restore?
what if we have to restore to a new computer.

Thank you

[jordansparks]

Yes, this is how you encrypt the database folder as well. Backups will not be encrypted unless you use an encrypted folder for them on the backup media. And I don't know what happens when you take that backup media to a different computer. We'll have to do some research.

[chrishilldmd]

I noticed that in the modules section, there is a box that you can check under Accounting that allows for storing Credit Card numbers, but I am not sure how or where it saves. Does anyone have any idea. i would like to save the numbers in a secured location. Right now, we have patients right there number on our consent form, scan it into images and then shred the documents.

[jordansparks]

You are not actually supposed to retain a customer's credit card number. You're supposed to use it once and then completely destroy it. For recurrent use, you are supposed to use specialized software designed for that purpose. And in that case, no staff person would actually be able to retrieve the number, only the software. Those rules mostly apply to large retail establishments for obvious reasons. But the rules are changing and are more and more aimed at smaller businesses. So that's why we say it's not secure. You shouldn't really even be scanning them and saving the scan. But it is a bit of a gray area.

[enamelrod]

IS xcharge the only company that od integrates with?


I am looking for more features such as auto cc charges on a payment plan
check proceessing?

i have seen other cc processing company offereing these services. Is it an xcharge issue or OD?

[jordansparks]

I think Xcharge now offers repeating charges, but we haven't built an interface for that feature. We are open to integration with other companies, but haven't had any serious problems with xcharge so far. For example, an obvious CC company to look into would be the one run by Claim Connect.

[enamelrod]

so im sure your going to say put in a request..but we are in need of check processing and a payment plan that uses repeating cc charges

[jordansparks]

Yup, sorry. You know, cc processing doesn't have to be totally integrated. You can set up repeating charges in a separate external cc program.

[enamelrod]

so you saying add another cc processing company xcharge says they can do it but they have to talk to you?

[Justin Shafer]

Couldn't the SSN be read with the source? How would this work? Have the SSN's created around a certificate or password of some sort?

[jordansparks]

This thread is just too old to be relevant anymore. I'm going to lock it. If you want to discuss this, the Advanced forum might be a better place.