Privacy matters in health

Yesterday night, Gilles Troussin, actually one of the very few with a genuine hindsight on this matter, made a great speech about “confidence in health”.

The audience discovered (or was remained) that French word Sécurité translates into two different concepts in English: Security and Safety.

Security can be described by the DICA model:

  • Disponibility, making certain that there is no unexpected information locking
  • Integrity, making certain that there is no unexpected data modification
  • Confidentiality, making certain that there is no unexpected access to information
  • Auditability, providing proof of above concepts

Safety covers the vast innocuity domain; making certain that a system is harmless.

Both Security and Safety, along with Fiability and Maintenability are part of Functionnal Safety.

In Hospital Information Systems, Trouessin explained that the true priority is still always about Availability; Security and Safety being at best considered as secondary (when not a nuisance).

As Dilbert demonstrates, it may sometimes become a real issue.

Dilbert about health information privacy

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