Data Security Comparison: Hipaa vs PCI

If your business deals with sensitive information it’s essential you take steps to protect that data. Your customers, clients, and patients are trusting you by providing this information—and you have an obligation to ensure their data security and privacy is maintained.

HIPAA and PCI are two of the most common data security concerns companies have. It’s anything but easy to understand, especially when you are considering hosting solutions and information security. Here’s a closer look at what you should be considering.

If you are a company that utilizes medical information, you may fall under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This federal law places very specific requirements on how medical information of any type can be accessed and stored. A component of those laws relates to the security of data over electronic means, including hosting.

Since a HIPAA fine for exposing data like this can be as high as $50,000 per violation, it’s always worth taking the time to your compliance in line. Your hosting services must use added security that ensures Electronic Protected Health Information (EPHI).

A component of these requirements is having a HIPAA compliance auditor who will work with you to ensure you maintain compliance. Your hosting provider must also provide information that shows that the hosting environment meets all HIPAA requirements. That generally means having a dedicated server as well as proper encryption with offsite backups and secured cabinets.

Any company that collects payment data from clients and customers needs to choose hosting that’s Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PIC-DSS) approved. This is nearly always called PCI compliance. Its aim is to protect credit card and bank information that is used and stored or transmitted over the internet in any way. This type of security is easier to manage today than it used to be, but not all hosting is ideal.

Mistakes here are costly too—up to $100,000 per month in fines per merchant are not uncommon. Data breaches are growing in recent years as more cyber risks remain. That’s why it is so important for companies to ensure they choose the right hosting.

PCI compliance is rather complex—there are 12 specific steps that must be followed to ensure that compliance standards are in line. This includes building a secure network, protecting all cardholder data through encryption methods, maintaining access control methods, restricting physical access to data, and monitoring and testing networks. It’s also important to ensure the company you use maintains a modern information security policy.

When choosing any type of hosting, verify that each one of these requirements is met. If a company does not state that they offer compliant hosting, they may not. It’s not uncommon because this type of hosting is difficult to manage. Compliance, especially with PCI compliance, continues to change over time. That makes it very difficult for companies to ensure they have the right level of protection in place on an ongoing basis.

If your business needs PCI compliance or HIPAA compliance hosting, WorldTech Management can help you. We’ll work with you to establish critical security protocols and ensure you’re always meeting essential compliance requirements including network and system security, network design, and cloud services. Because we can design your system from the ground up, it’s possible to create a very secure solution that can ease you remind from all of those fine risks.

To find out how WorldTech Management Solutions can help you, call now and schedule your no-obligation consultation.