Health Information Management

Does my facility have to have malware protection?

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, September 27, 2004

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Technically, if your risk analysis shows no threats or vulnerabilities associated with malware, then, no, you don't need malware protection. However, the only situation I could imagine where malware does not pose a threat would be for terminals running an old "green screen" application that have no disk drives or Internet access.

Practically speaking, all other systems, including Windows, Macs, NetWare, Linux/UNIX systems, and even PDAs are vulnerable. The best way to handle this is to install some form of malware protection on every system you can.

Editor's note: This question was answered by Kevin Beaver, CISSP. This is not legal advice. Consult with your facility's legal counsel for legal matters.



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