Futuristic Data Security From a Pen and Pad

Submitted: The Two Sides Team February 25, 2016

“Paper records are the killer app for stopping hackers" and "computerized data are inherently insecure,” notes Glenn Reynolds.

This article which appeared on the USA Today website examines how hackers have caused grief to major organizations including:

America's most secure federal agencies who were hacked by a 16-year old who obtained their internal files
A Medical Center in Los Angeles that was hit by an infection of "ransomware" which locked up all its data in encrypted form until a ransom (hence the name) was paid to the software deployers to decrypt the data again

A much more secure technology is suggested, that would serve as a near-perfect barrier to hackers, ransomware and other exploits: Put important records back on paper.

In addition, electronic medical records, touted as saving money and streamlining care, are a major cause of physician burnout and some hospitals actually advertise the lack of electronic medical record systems as a selling point in recruiting doctors.

E-media has not prevented medical mistakes. A recent study of more than 1 million medication errors reported to a national database between 2003 and 2010 found that 6% were related to the computerized prescribing system. Those problems, and considerable expense, could have been prevented by sticking with pen and paper.

Read the full article here.