{"id":1756,"date":"2019-06-05T09:00:57","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T23:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2019-06-04T09:23:08","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T23:23:08","slug":"do-you-feel-secure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.amt.org.au\/index.php\/2019\/06\/05\/do-you-feel-secure\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Feel Secure?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Sam McCracken<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How did Clive Palmer get my phone number?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t want to sound like one of those tinfoil hat types who say \u201cI think there’s something going on\u201d but I think there’s something going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hello Big Brother?<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Our lack of control of personal privacy is bordering on Orwellian. Personal data is the new commodity and the trade in our data eclipses the oil and gold rushes of the last couple of centuries. Apple and Microsoft have broken through the trillion-dollar ceiling and the rest aren’t far behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tech journalist Kashmir Hill recently conducted an experiment where she tried to live without \u2018the frightful five<\/a>\u2019. Over the course of five weeks, she blocked Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Apple. The outcome being that it is pretty much impossible to participate in a modern society without exposure to these giant companies. However, there are ways we can minimise our exposure \u2013 keep reading to find out how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Okay, so what has all this got to do with massage therapy? Well, we have a responsibility to protect our patients\u2019 privacy and the privacy of the information they share with us. Hacks and data breaches have become commonplace but the most worrying thing is how easily we give up our private information to online companies and, in the process, we may also betray our patients by divulging their private data as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What? How? Huh?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It was no surprise to see the public backlash when the government recently wanted to introduce centralised healthcare records. The public obviously value their data privacy and in particular, their health data. Our health data may be valued by us but it is also valued by those who trade in data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the US, there have been over 11.5 billion records breached since 2005 (244 million of which were health related records).1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Australia, since February 2018, the healthcare sector suffered the most data breaches of any industry group.2<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A third (33%) of all breaches in the last 12 months involved health information.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

An example of how we can unwittingly divulge our patient\u2019s private information is with our social media. When we tick that box to upload our contacts to help find our friends online, I wonder how many of us stop to consider that, without obtaining consent, we are allowing that social media platform to harvest the data of our friends, family and patients (assuming we have patient contact details on our phones or computer)? And that personal\/private information ends up in a data server farm and is on-sold to third, fourth, fifth and who knows how many other parties?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By default, Windows has access to all your contacts. Most people take care to ensure they have antivirus software installed on their Windows PC \u2013 which is wise \u2013 but in some ways, Windows could itself be considered a virus.3<\/sup> Windows telemetry is constantly uploading your data and if you store client\/patient data on your PC, then that is also being uploaded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to know how much of your data has been mined by Google, download your data from your Google account. Don’t be surprised if your file is 150 gigabytes and takes 4 days to download. Ever wondered how Google knew to ask if you would like your flight booking details stored on your Google calendar? Depending on how you manage your appointment diary, Google may be trawling through your patient database as you read this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can’t talk about Facebook without it turning into a rant. If you only read the headlines, you soon get the picture with regards to unethical practices, data breaches and privacy invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could fill many pages on how tech giants mine our data but I think by now you understand what I’m talking about, and we should all be mindful that there really is something going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Can I Do To Keep Data Safe?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While there\u2019s no need to be paranoid to tinfoil hat levels, there are plenty of ways to keep data safe. Below are some suggestions for strengthening your data security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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