As a parent, you expect a certain level of chaos when preparing your kids for summer camp. Forms, physicals, packing lists, bug spray, and sunscreen—it's all part of the dance. But what you don't expect is an unexpected peek into another camper's personal health history. Yet, that's exactly what landed in my email inbox recently, courtesy of a well-meaning but misguided camp nurse's office.
Now, as an employee of Virtru, a company that specializes in data security, you can imagine my reaction and how unsettling it was to receive a file containing the full health history for a child that was not mine.
It wasn't just "Oops, they sent an email to the wrong person." It gave me complete pause and made me wonder that if this mistake happened, it’s 100% possible that MY child’s health information was sitting in another parent’s inbox.
How Did I Receive the PHI of Another Child?
Let's break this down:
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The camp nurse’s office accidentally sent me another child's complete health history.
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I alerted the camp to their mistake. (Because that's what good-intentioned humans should do, right?)
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The Dean of Students responded with an apology, asked me to delete the email, restated their commitment to safety and security, and promised to "review their internal processes."
I completely understand, we’re human and mistakes happen. But in 2024, when we're all walking around with supercomputers in our pockets, I envision a world where we have a little more sophistication in protecting sensitive information.
Information Sharing is Inevitable
Here's the thing: Information sharing is inevitable. It's how businesses, schools, and yes, even summer camps function. At Virtru, we often focus on protecting data from malicious breaches. But there's another side to this coin: the everyday, necessary sharing of information that keeps organizations running – how is that protected?
This incident highlights two crucial points. First, the intentional sharing of sensitive data is essential for daily operations. Second, there's also the risk of unintentional exposure — like someone in your organization sending an email to the wrong person, attaching the wrong file, or that embarrassing moment where you hit "Reply All" in an email meant for one person. These scenarios need robust protection, because even well-intentioned people can accidentally share sensitive information, just as I experienced when I received another camper's full health history.
So, what's a camp (or any organization) to do? Enter Virtru.
Virtru's Like a Seatbelt for your Data
Virtru isn't just another clunky security solution. It's like a seatbelt for your data — lightweight, easy to use, but potentially life-saving. School districts, and universities nationwide are already using it to secure sensitive student information. With Virtru, that camp nurse could have:
- Encrypted the email and attachment, or sent it via a secure file sharing solution like Virtru Secure Share
- Set an expiration date for the message
- Revoked access when they realized they sent the files to the wrong parent
Instead of just asking me to pinky swear that I deleted the email (obviously not foolproof – but lucky for them, I can keep a promise), they could have taken control of the situation and ultimately ensured my trust in their operations.
The reality is, that once that email left their outbox, they lost control over the data they were entrusted to protect. They're now relying on my goodwill to ensure that information doesn't fall into the wrong hands. While I'm happy to oblige, not everyone out there can be trusted to do the same.
So, to all the summer camps, schools, and businesses out there: It's time to level up your data security game. The response,"Oops, that wasn’t for you. Please delete that” is not a reliable solution.
As we pack our kids off to summer adventures, let's make sure their personal information doesn't go on any unintended journeys of its own. After all, data security should be as essential as sunscreen—a safeguard that often goes unnoticed until its absence causes major problems.
