25 Tips to Prevent Data Breaches

By Sharon D. Nelson & John W. Simek
The Wisconsin Lawyer

Volume 85, No. 11, November 2012

Another day, another data breach. Data breaches have proliferated with amazing speed. Here is the roundup of some of the largest victims in 2011 alone: Tricare, Nemours, Epsilon, WordPress, Sony, HB Gary, TripAdvisor, Citigroup, NASA, Lockheed Martin, and RSA Security. Some mighty big names on that list.

Don't be lulled into thinking that law firms (large and small) aren't suffering data breaches just because they don't have millions of clients affected. On Nov. 1, 2009, the FBI issued an advisory, warning law firms that they were specifically being targeted by hackers. Rob Lee, an information security specialist who investigates data breaches for the security company Mandiant, estimated that 10 percent of his time in 2010 was spent investigating law firm data breaches.

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Top Practical Security Tips

1. Have a strong password – at least 12 characters. No matter how strong an eight-character password is, it can now be cracked in about two hours. A strong 12-character password takes roughly 17 years to crack. Much easier to hack someone else. Use a passphrase so you can remember the password: "Love ABATECHSHOW 2013!" is a perfect example.

2. Don't use the same password everywhere. If they crack you once, they've got you in other places, too.

3. Change your passwords regularly. This will foil anyone who has gotten your password.

The entire story is here.

Thanks to Ken Pope for this article.

Psychologist Kristina Nana Killam Duangpatra banned for six months for inappropriate relationship with prisoner

By Tony Keim
The Courier-Mail
Originally published November 5, 2012


A FEMALE psychologist who had a "personal and intimate relationship" with a Brisbane prisoner - including offering to have his child - has been banned for six months.

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal was told psychologist Kristina Nana Killam Duangpatra had an improper relationship with a prisoner over a two-year period.

QCAT acting Deputy President Kerrie O'Callaghan, in a just published eight-page decision, said Duagnpatra first met the prisoner, identified only as Mr Cougan, at Wacol's Wolston Correctional Centre when she began treating him on August 3, 2009.

The tribunal became involved after a disciplinary referral from the Psychology Board of Australia indicated Duangpatra was having an improper relationship with a former patient.

The entire story is here.

EHRs Push Private Practice Docs Out of Business

Growing numbers seek employment, in part because government-mandated technology costs too much

By Ken Terry
Information Week
Originally published November 9, 2012


Sixty-one percent of independent physicians are seeking employment, and the majority of those doctors say that the government requirement for them to adopt and show meaningful use of an electronic health record (EHR) is one reason, a new Accenture report finds.

The paper, entitled "Clinical Transformation: New Business Models for a New Era in Healthcare," notes that the percentage of private practice physicians in the workforce dropped from 57% in 2000 to 39% in 2012. By the end of next year, Accenture forecasts, only 36% of physicians will be self-employed.

The biggest reason for doctors to seek employment, the Accenture survey shows, is the cost of doing business as an independent practitioner. Eighty-seven percent of respondents who were looking for a job cited that challenge, and 61% checked off "the prevalence of managed care." Government EHR requirements and maintaining/managing staff each were mentioned by 53% of doctors.

The entire story is here.

Missouri, Kansas Reject State-Run Health Insurance Exchanges

By Alana Gordon
Kaiser Health News, in cooperation with NPR
Originally published November 19, 2012

Immediately after the presidential election, and more than a week ahead of the Nov. 16 deadline, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, announced he had made up his mind. The state would not be setting up its own health insurance exchange.

Next door in Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, made a similar announcement. These governors' moves open the door for increased federal involvement in health care in both states.
President Barack Obama's health law has never had any easy time in this part of the country.

"Kansans feel Obamacare is an overreach by Washington and have rejected the state’s participation in this federal program," Brownback said in a statement.

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Some health policy experts find the situation in Missouri ironic. "We have a state that is very much committed to state rights and state control," notes Thomas McAuliffe, with the Missouri Foundation for Health. "Yet we’re willing to just blindly cede all creation and administration of a health exchange or insurance state marketplace to the federal government." The foundation helped fund efforts to plan an exchange.

The entire story is here.

Backers of Mass. assisted suicide measure concede

ASSOCIATED PRESS  
Originally published NOVEMBER 07, 2012


Supporters of a ballot question legalizing physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill in Massachusetts have conceded defeat, even though the vote is too close to call.

A spokesman for the Death With Dignity Act campaign said in a statement early Wednesday that ‘‘regrettably, we fell short.’’

The entire story is here.

Washington Approves Same-Sex Marriage, Marking Shift in Nation’s Views

ABC News
Originally published November 7, 2012


On Thursday, opponents of the same-sex marriage referendum on the ballot in Washington state conceded the race, marking a full slate of victories for gay rights on Election Night. Same-sex marriage was legalized by popular vote for the first time in our nation’s history in not one, but all three states where it was on the ballot: Maine, Maryland and Washington. In Minnesota, a proposed ban on same-sex marriage that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman in the state’s constitution was defeated.

Tuesday’s victories mark more than just a win for the gay rights movement; they represent a larger demographic shift in our country. In an election year where the president made history by publicly announcing his support for same-sex marriage — becoming the first sitting president to do so — the results in Maine, Maryland, Washington and Minnesota appear to be another sign of this increased acceptance.

The entire story is here.

In Maine and Maryland, Victories at the Ballot Box for Same-Sex Marriage

By ERIK ECKHOLM
The New York Times
Originally published on November 7, 2012

Voters in Maine and Maryland approved same-sex marriage on an election night that jubilant gay rights advocates called a historic turning point, the first time that marriage for gay men and lesbians has been approved at the ballot box.

While six states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriage through court decisions or legislative decisions, voters had rejected it more than 30 times in a row.

Results for the other two states voting on same-sex marriage, Minnesota and Washington, were still coming in late Tuesday, but rights groups said that the victories in two states and possibly more were an important sign that public opinion was shifting in their direction.

The entire story is here.

Same-sex marriage upheld by Spain's highest court

By Iciar Reinlein and Sarah Morris
Reuters
Originally published 6, 2012

Spain's highest court upheld the country's gay marriage law on Tuesday, rejecting an appeal lodged by the ruling People's Party seven years ago and confirming the legality of same-sex unions.

By the end of last year, more than 21,000 same-sex couples had tied the knot since Spain became the fourth country in the world to legalize gay marriage in July 2005.

Eight of the Constitutional Court's 11 judges voted in favor of the law, the court said in a statement, adding that the full ruling will be published in the next few days.

The entire story is here.

French government approves introduction of same-sex marriage

Draft law on gay marriage and adoption to go before parliament amid protests and concerns plans do not go far enough

by Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
The Guardian
Originally published November 7, 2012


Plans to introduce gay marriage and adoption rights have been approved by France amid growing protest from the French right and religious leaders.

François Hollande, the Socialist president, had made same-sex marriage and adoption a cornerstone of his election campaign, promising a law before mid-2013.

The draft legislation goes before parliament in January.

France would become the 12th country to legalise gay marriage – after others such as Canada, South Africa, Spain and Portugal. But with 60 million people it would be the biggest in terms of economic and diplomatic influence.

"This would be progress not just for the few, but for our whole society," Hollande told the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

But the plans have proved more divisive than he and the left had hoped. Amid a conservative backlash, Catholic church protests and political squabbling, draft legislation has been slightly delayed and, some gay activists argue, watered down.

The entire story is here.