I’m Kate Dewhirst.

My team and I write about legal issues affecting healthcare in Canada.

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Cyber Risk Management – What’s a Privacy Officer to Do?

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Have you seen this tool from HIROC – the Health Insurance Reciprocal of Canada?

Cyber-Guide

If you are a Privacy Officer in healthcare – you should read this tool.  It’s great. It’s brand new – November 2017.

You may have a vague understanding of words like “ransomware” and “phishing” and “social engineering“.  And maybe you have team members who deal with the security aspects of your organization’s privacy program.  But any Privacy Officer needs to have more than a passing understanding of cyber risks.

The more you know, the better you are going to be at explaining these risks to your team members.

I’m not going to lie. Reading this guide is going to raise your blood pressure.

There are risks in here you probably never thought about before: like the notice issued in 2016 from Johnson & Johnson about their insulin pumps not being encrypted – which left them vulnerable to hacking.  That’s not good.  I have read other stories about cyber risks for implantable medical devices. We all need to keep up with changing technology and its associated risks.

Let me also reassure you that the guide gives practical step-by-step tips on how healthcare organizations can manage cyber risks and what you can do to equip your team to recognize and prevent cyber interference.

Take Action: If you are a Privacy Officer and you want to learn more about your role, I am doing an Advanced Privacy Officer course on January 16, 2018  (details coming soon) and my signature Privacy Officer course starts again in May 2018.  Email me for details: kate@katedewhirst.com


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Some of Kate’s recent and upcoming events

Free healthcare privacy webinar - ask me anything!
the first Wednesday of every month

Free webinars - advance registration needed

Whether you're an experienced privacy officer or new in the field, pick Kate’s brain for free for an hour, in this live webinar. No charge, but you’ll need to register in advance.

Health Privacy Officer Foundations training
starts March 2024

For Privacy Officers within healthcare organizations.

This course focuses on how to become a more confident privacy officer and gives you the tools to document your privacy program. Full details and registration here...

Join the Shush: a collective of health privacy officers
Annual membership 2024

For Privacy Officers within healthcare organizations

This is an annual membership program that takes theory into practice and tackles real life scenarios to build Privacy Officer skills.
Full details and registration here.

Primary care webinars: Employment Law Update & Legal Issues for EDs and Board members

Part of Kate’s monthly webinar series.

Our 2024 program is now live.
Full details of the 2024 webinar series and registration here.

Mental Health webinars: Legal issues for mental health and addictions agencies and teams
Annual membership 2024

For managers and other leaders from mental health and addictions agencies, hospitals, CMHAs, CHCs, school boards, FHTs and Indigenous health services

This is an annual membership program with monthly webinars.
Full details and registration here.

Team Privacy Training Events

For Primary Care clinics, Hospitals, Community Agencies, Mental Health Teams, Public Health Units, School Boards, Police departments

Scheduled to your team's needs for comprehensive or refresher training More details...

Free summary of all PHIPA IPC decisions

Want to read privacy breach stories to learn how to improve your work? We have summarized all the Information and Privacy Commissioner's health privacy decisions for you Download here...

Kate Dewhirst Health Law

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