======================================================================== SECURITY ADVISER: P.J. CONNOLLY http://www.infoworld.com ======================================================================== Thursday, December 23, 2004
Network protection commentary by: P.J. Connolly THE LAST DANCE, AGAIN By P.J. Connolly Posted December 17, 2004 3:00 PM Pacific Time Well, someone's going to have a nice holiday present. I'm just glad this one's not addressed to me. ADVERTISEMENT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- IRONPORT VIRUS OUTBREAK FILTERS PREDICT VIRUS ATTACKS Today, viruses spread in a matter of hours, often completely disrupting email service for corporations and creating an all-hands emergency situation for It staffs around the world. Join IronPort System's Senior Vice President, Tom Gillis, in this on-demand video webcast as he explores the benefits of IronPort's "Industrial Strength" C-Series security appliances against email threats. http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A9583A:2B910B2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- The deadline for complying with HIPAA's data security requirements is just around the corner -- April 2005 -- and more than a few people have looked at the Federal Register version and thrown up their hands in frustration, incomprehension, or wonder at where the resources to make it all happen are going to come from. That's where the holiday present comes in. The Healthcare Security Workgroup is a joint effort of the government's National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange, and URAC -- a nonprofit accreditation agency for the health care industry -- and it's working on guidelines for HIPAA compliance that should be out by year's end. That's a good thing, because it's one thing to specify data protection measures, and it's another thing altogether to translate that specification into practical action items. I'm looking forward to seeing the group's handiwork, because it represents an attempt to codify the best practices and flag the greatest vulnerabilities. I've suggested for years that HIPAA will represent a yardstick for IT security, in much the fashion that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was designed to provide a way to gauge the costs of generating power. I'll find some interesting reading in the Healthcare Security Workgroup's recommendations, but I'm glad that I don't have to implement them. Something tells me that after the New Year there's going to be a lot of squawking about how HIPAA's looming deadline needs to slip. *** Another thing that makes me happy is ending my third tour of duty writing this column. I enjoy doing a weekly column, but frankly, I'm a little burnt out on the topic after four years. I could tell I was getting stale, because I was tempted to dust off an old column and see if anyone would notice it. But I never got to find out, because my curiosity is nowhere near as strong as my love of a regular paycheck. So, starting in two weeks, Security Adviser will come to you from Bob Francis, a veteran writer in the InfoWorld News department who has covered security since the last century. Give him a warm welcome, won't you? There is good news for both of you who find me entertaining: I'll continue doing a weekly column online, but with a broader range of topics. (Translated, that means whatever happens to be ticking me off on a given Tuesday morning. But you already knew that ....) Readers will have to come find me at InfoWorld.com, at least until someone figures out a way to market an e-mail newsletter around my ranting. P.J. Connolly is a senior analyst at the InfoWorld Test Center. ======================================================================== Ever wonder how others keep up with web services? Your peers will tell you, although your competitors probably won't. This is how more than 63,000 people keep up with the fast-moving news about web services: the Web Services Report newsletter. Scan its quick summaries of the week's biggest news in web services, then move on or click through for the full story. It may not be the only way to keep up with web services, but it's the easiest. Subscribe at http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A95836:2B910B2 ADVERTISE ======================================================================== For information on advertising, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] UNSUBSCRIBE/MANAGE NEWSLETTERS ======================================================================== To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your e-mail address for any of InfoWorld's e-mail newsletters, go to: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A95837:2B910B2 To subscribe to InfoWorld.com, or InfoWorld Print, or both, or to renew or correct a problem with any InfoWorld subscription, go to http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A95839:2B910B2 To view InfoWorld's privacy policy, visit: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A95838:2B910B2 Copyright (C) 2004 InfoWorld Media Group, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107 This message was sent to: [email protected]
