Security Researcher Comments on HIPAA Security Rule

As long-time readers know, DataBreaches has occasionally run into difficulties when trying to helpfully notify entities of their data leaks or breaches. In other cases, independent researchers have also reported frustration with trying to get entities to respond to responsible disclosures. More often than not, initial attempts at disclosure are ignored or go to spam or trash. At other times, we may be accused of being extortionists or spammers.

Good faith security researchers need protection and entities need to get their cybersecurity hygiene acts together and create systems to receive and process notifications or disclosures.

Some of us have raised the issue with HHS in response to their request for comments on proposed HIPAA Security Rules changes.

Adam Shostack writes:

A group of us have urged HHS to require that health care providers to act on (and facilitate reporting of) security issues by good faith cybersecurity researchers.

The core of what we recommend is that HHS should require cooperation with Good Faith researchers.

1. All regulated entities should be required to enable people to report security issues in a way that’s easy to discover and aligned with standards.
2. All regulated entities that produce software should be required to publish a vulnerability disclosure policy.
3. Regulated entities should be discouraged from threatening Good Faith researchers
4. Regulated entities should be rewarded for positive engagement with Good Faith researchers
5. HHS should add “insecure operations” to the wall of shame, including threatening Good Faith researchers or possibly even failing to engage in Good Faith.
6. Receipt of a Good Faith report must be tracked and managed, but not all reports rise to the level of an incident.

We chose to discuss regulated entities (rather ‘covered’ ones) because we believe these should be applied to those entering a BAA.

The comments are by a set of security researchers including myself, Jack Cable, Dissent Doe, Josiah Dykstra, Ph.D., Fred Jennings, and Chloé Messdaghi on the HIPAA Security Rule Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Strengthen Cybersecurity for Electronic Protected Health Information. Lastly, the official comment doesn’t include Chloe as a contributor because of an oversight, this version does.

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