Medical data privacy: 3 user cases
We often take the privacy of our medical records for granted. We trust doctors, we trust hospital administrators, we trust the nurses and other members of medical staff. We trust because these are respectable individuals working in an environment based on trust.
It turns out, our trust can be misguided. Here are four user cases which clearly show a change is needed and it is needed fast. Our medical records are not safe and we are partly to blame for the situation.
Case 1: Celebrities
The story is old as the world itself. A celebrity checks into a clinic or a hospital, gets examined and their medical records end up in the hands of tabloids or other third parties. The celebrity can choose to sue the clinic but only if there is a proven damage done to its public image. Other than that, nobody can prevent the nurses or doctors taking a sneak-peak into the file, discussing it with their families and friends or other third parties. Here are a few stories that highlight this problem.
Prince might be dead, but his medical records live on.
The week before his death he was upset that the news reported he had been hospitalized for the flu and that he suffered a drug overdose. His medical records were published in several tabloids and the people could read about the procedures and the details of his unfortunate demise.
You do not want to be another Kim Kardashian.
Another example of unauthorised celebrity medical records access comes from Kim Kardashian. While she was hospitalised for giving birth to her child, five staff members of the private clinic were accessing her records without any authorisation.
Michael Jackson final thriller.
After the death of the pop king, somebody released his entire medical records to the public. Even his death certificate was a matter of great interest to the workers of the private clinic which treated him in his final hours.
How can Iryo make a difference?
By giving you, the patient, control over your own medical data where you are the one approving or disapproving the access to it, you can rest assured the only person looking at your medical records is the one that is sitting right in front of you. The rest of them can Beat it.
Case 2: Army veterans
You are probably not an army veteran. But you still probably know the army veterans are the one group who is suffering the most coming back from the war. Physical and psychological ills are on the rise and there are known cases of medical data theft related to the army veterans. These are not only sensitive because they can provide an insight into the strength of national military, but they can also cause immense stress to the troubled soldiers trying to reestablish their lives after the service.
Also a problem is a growing number of PTSD Clinics which miss the opportunity to serve millions of veterans in the USA because of the stigmatised nature, and constant leaking of mental health data.
Car is not a safe place.
In 2011, over 4.9 million of army medical data records were stolen from a car where they were stored on a laptop. Social security numbers, clinical notes, lab tests… Gone. And possibly offered to the highest bidder on the black data market.
Mongo bongo data long gone.
In 2017, an unprotected database containing veteran medical records, chats between doctors and nurses was found just sitting on a server. The database was not hacked but misconfigured for anyone to access it without the need for hacking.
Password? What password?
In another example last year, veteran medical records were found sitting on a server without any password.
Cyberwarfare is here!
One of the latest medical records horror story is coming out of the field of cyber warfare. Oregon Secretary of State noticed that their computer network was tried being accessed by the Russian government during the 2016 election campaign, putting at risk individuals’ tax data, Social Security numbers, driver license information and medical records
How can Iryo make a difference?
Encrypted data with blockchain permission access control which not only enables you to control the access to your data but also track every single access point without the possibility of deleting or changing it without your knowledge. IRYO’s privacy controls would afford more people the opportunity to seek treatment without worrying their condition might be exposed. Consequently, it might help cut down suicides, and improve Veterans ability to participate in ongoing treatment
Case 3: Athletes
Using your physical body to make a living is tough. What is even tougher is when the medical records of that physical body get leaked. The opponent can read it, know your weaknesses and prepare accordingly. The leaks can also prevent an athlete to get hired or cause his public image to suffer in front of the fans.
Are you feeling olympic today?
In 2016 a group of american olympians received the news about their medical records being hacked by a group of hackers allegedly connected with the russian government called Fancy Bear.
Different study goals
Again in 2016 students and student athletes in University of Central Florida discovered somebody hacked the school network and accessed their medical records and other files.
No touchdown for you.
During an amputation an NFL star, Jason Pierre-Paul, got his medical records leaked. Nobody knows how but it is assumed a medical staff member improperly accessed the data and sent it to the media.
Not (h)o(c)key!
In 2015 the members of canadian hockey team Winnipeg Jets realised somebody leaked their medical records to the public without their knowledge. Not only this presented quite an outrage amongst the players, but also added additional shame when the data showed players getting preferential treatment over other patients.
How can Iryo make a difference?
By securing your data and giving you total control over it, you can rest assured nobody can access it without your knowledge. And even if you get tricked into revealing it, the decentralised system prevents the hackers to get access to other people’s data as well.
Iryo: Decentralised e-health records
Iryo is creating a global network for healthcare data, based on a standardised, zero-knowledge data storage, blockchain access control framework. Iryo’s ecosystem is putting the patient in the center and in complete control of their valuable data. By adopting openEHR medical standards and being open-source, Iryo is solving the issue of interoperability in Healthcare IT from the ground up.
The use of a public blockchain will enable the network to employ a distributed access control list (preventing internal exploits that are common in centralized systems) and provide data immutability through digital fingerprinting.
Iryo Tokens will add an additional layer of security (healthcare providers will need to stake a certain amount of tokens to be considered a legitimate actor) and will incentivize data sharing for research purposes.
Read more on our views on heathcare challenges:
We are implementing Iryo in the Middle East,
we are making sure your data is owned by you,
we are sustainable and future-proof.
