%0 Journal Article
%@ 1438-8871
%I Gunther Eysenbach
%V 4
%N 2
%P e12
%T Security, privacy, and confidentiality issues on the Internet
%A Kelly,Grant
%A McKenzie,Bruce
%K Access to Information
%K Computer Security
%K Confidentiality
%K Data Collection
%K Information Services
%K Informed consent
%K Internet
%K Organizational Policy
%K Privacy
%D 2002
%7 22.11.2002
%9 Tutorial
%J J Med Internet Res
%G English
%X We introduce the issues around protecting information about patients and related data sent via the Internet. We begin by reviewing three concepts necessary to any discussion about data security in a healthcare environment: privacy, confidentiality, and consent. We are giving some advice on how to protect local data. Authentication and privacy of e-mail via encryption is offered by Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME). The de facto Internet standard for encrypting Web-based information interchanges is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), more recently known as Transport Layer Security or TLS. There is a public key infrastructure process to `sign' a message whereby the private key of an individual can be used to `hash' the message. This can then be verified against the sender's public key. This ensures the data's authenticity and origin without conferring privacy, and is called a `digital signature'. The best protection against viruses is not opening e-mails from unknown sources or those containing unusual message headers.
%M 12554559
%R 10.2196/jmir.4.2.e12
%U http://www.jmir.org/2002/2/e12/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.4.2.e12
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12554559