How a VPN Can Help with HIPAA Compliance

HIPAA compliance affects healthcare organizations, insurance agents and more. In this recent podcast, we’ve outlined the easiest way to secure your data so that you can meet HIPAA compliance obligations easily and cost-effectively.

Public Wi-Fi is dangerous for both people and businesses, especially for those dealing with confidential and sensitive data. Due to a lack of encryption and open passwords, unsecured networks can be hacked in a matter of seconds.
We’ve already seen many significant healthcare data breaches this year. The HIPAA Journal reported that there were 29 breaches in May of 2018 alone with unauthorized access being the most numerous type of breach with an incident of 51 percent.

Introducing the Cloud VPN

With a Virtual Private Network (VPN), organizations can easily protect data transmission, secure data with strong encryption and meet other compliance requirements to secure electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI).
When you connect to a VPN, you create an encrypted tunnel that protects your data from hackers and third parties. This allows you to set up a completely private and secure connection to another network, enabling remote employees to securely access the network while they’re outside of the office.
Our service actually takes this one step further with Wi-Fi Security – a patent-pending feature that automatically activates military-grade encryption the moment an employee connects to an unsecured Wi-Fi network. This keeps all data being transferred over the network hidden from hackers – even if their mobile device is locked and inside their pocket.
More, our DNS Filtering Solution prevents the employees to access spammy websites that could endanger the company’s network security.

How Does a VPN Supplement HIPAA Compliance?

Majority of ePHI breaches result from compromised mobile devices or networks that contain unencrypted data which can result in loss of trust, substantial fines, criminal charges, and even civil action lawsuits.

To secure confidential data, organizations can implement a HIPAA compliant VPN to encrypt all transmitted data over the network, securing protected health information both on-site and remotely. Cloud VPNs integrate seamlessly with major cloud providers and can ensure that sensitive data located in cloud environments are fuly protected and secured.

The Benefits of Using a Cloud VPN

  • Lockdown Confidential Data and Databases to a Specific IP Address

    When you deploy a private server, you essentially restrict access to certain resources using a specific IP address. This allows you to designate certain team members to have access to only that server or IP address, limiting data access and segmenting the network.

  • Nonstop Security with VPN Kill Switch

    A VPN kill switch ensures that if the VPN disconnects for any reason, the Internet connection is stopped and no data is transferred. That means that no data will ever be transmitted over the network without encryption so that no third party can see your data in plain text.  

  • Full Visibility with a Unified Management Platform

    Not all software based VPN services offer advanced visibility and management features. With our VPN service, you can easily invite team members, deploy private servers and view all network activity in one unified place.

  • Two-Factor Authentication and Identity Provider Integration

    Two-factor authorization is key to security because it prevents hackers from accessing your account even if they were to obtain your login credentials. By requiring an additional layer of security via SMS push notifications or Google Authenticator, user access can be easily maintained.

Achieve HIPAA Compliance with a Full-Service Security Solution

At Perimeter 81, we’re highly aware of data storage and logging privacy because it’s critically important in both the business and consumer spaces. Even before GDPR came into effect, we were ready to address these security issues for our customers.
Cloud-based VPN technology offers much-needed scalability, affordability and increased compatibility with cloud storage environments. We are GDPR compliant, SOC-2 compliant and ISO 27 001 compliant so that we can offer a highly effective solution for any organizations’ HIPAA compliance needs.