“Patients who participate in clinical trials expect that their personal information will remain confidential, but a recent study led by Dr. Khaled El-Emam, Canada Research Chair in Electronic Health Information at the CHEO Research Institute, found that the security practices used to transfer and share sensitive files were inadequate.
The two-part study, entitled “How Strong Are Passwords Used to Protect Personal Health Information in Clinical Trials?”, published today in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, showed that the majority of passwords used to protect files are poorly constructed and easily cracked using commercial password recovery tools. Study coordinator interviews indicated that electronic information shared in the context of clinical trials may put personal health information at risk.”
Article
Dissent, PHIprivacy.net, 16 February 2011
Article (El Emam 2011)
