Compare encryption, audit controls, and integrity controls as safeguards for electronic protected health information (ePHI).
Answer
A strong answer distinguishes encryption as protection against unauthorized reading of stored or transmitted information; audit controls as monitoring and records used to detect, investigate, and reconstruct access activity; and integrity controls as measures that prevent or detect improper alteration or destruction. It should use examples from the material, such as key management, audit trails, file integrity monitoring, checksums, digital signatures, or version control.
Explanation
### What a good answer covers
- Encryption protects confidentiality by making data difficult to read without authorized access to the appropriate key.
- Encryption at rest protects stored data; secure channels protect data during transmission.
- Audit controls monitor system activity and provide records for suspicious-activity detection and incident investigation.
- Integrity controls protect data accuracy and help detect unauthorized modification or destruction.
- Examples include key management, audit trails, file integrity monitoring, checksums, digital signatures, and version control.
### Terms
- **Confidentiality**: limiting information access to authorized people.
- **Integrity**: maintaining information accuracy and preventing improper change.
- **Audit control**: a measure that records or reviews activity to support accountability and investigation.
### Remember
Ask whether the risk is unauthorized reading, untraceable activity, or improper change; the safeguard depends on the risk.
Related Questions
- Outsourcing payment processing to a third-party vendor completely transfers all regulatory compliance and data protection responsibilities away from the hiring organization.(intermediate)
- In an incident management exercise divided into discovery, investigation, response, and recovery, the phase focused on analyzing logs, alerts, and evidence to examine unauthorized activity is called _____.(basic)
- The recovery and compliance review phase can include a mock audit, ongoing monitoring, staff training, and improvements informed by the incident.(basic)
- A staff member accesses the billing system from an unprotected personal laptop, and suspicious activity alerts appear. Which response area is most directly implicated by this new information?(intermediate)
- During a tabletop incident response exercise involving potential payment card data compromise, which activity is the primary focus of the Discovery phase?(advanced)
Want to practice more questions like this?
Join myBenkio free and practice past questions for your Nigerian university courses with AI explanations for every answer.
Start Practicing Free