Crime is alive and well in the Unites States. As a matter of fact, no matter which venue you tune to, there are new crimes been reported on a daily basis. Granted, there is a marked increase in murder, assault, and rape cases, yet this doesn’t mean that some of these cases do not also involve unlawful access and robbery.

The bad news gets to the point that I think about shutting down and avoiding any information as a potential solution. Yet, taking these actions will not make the problem go away so I choose to investigate potential solutions that will keep my family and me save. The funny part about all of this is that I have been able to get usable recommendations in one of the most unexpected sources: HIPAA Security guidelines.

Did you know that one of the HIPAA Security guidelines deal with physical safeguard? Under HIPAA Physical Safeguards relate to physical measures, policies, and procedures that protect electronic information systems and related buildings and equipment.

HIPAA Security Physical safeguards covers:

  • Access Controls
  • Workstation Use
  • Workstation Security
  • Device and media controls

I can easily translate that into:

  • Unauthorized access to my home
  • Use of my property without permission (we all know noisy people that if given the opportunity will look into and do all kind of things using our devices and accounts).

It gets worst if you consider old devices that we may turn in, exchange for an upgrade, throw away or lose. Why? Because some of these devices keep a record of the information that was in there. I don’t know about you but in my case, I prefer to keep some thing in my life private.

If you look into HIPAA Security, Physical safeguards you will see recommendations into what needs to take place to protect these assets and the information within. I consider this a win-win scenario as by reading and understanding my organization’s policies and procedures dealing with Physical Security, I will learn how to protect my organization and my home at the same time.

At the very least, I recommend you look into your organizations Physical Security policies and procedures and ask questions about the same. After all, you have to do it as part of the law and there is nothing to lose by doing so.