SCENARIO
Tom looked forward to starting his new position with a U.S -based automobile leasing company (New Company), now operating in 32 states. New Company was recently formed through the merger of two prominent players, one from the eastern region (East Company) and one from the western region (West Company). Tom, a Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT), is New Company's first Information Privacy and Security Officer. He met today with Dick from East Company, and Harry, from West Company.
Dick and Harry are veteran senior information privacy and security professionals at their respective companies, and continue to lead the east and west divisions of New Company. The purpose of the meeting was to conduct a SWOT (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) analysis for New Company. Their SWOT analysis conclusions are summarized below.
Dick was enthusiastic about an opportunity for the New Company to reduce costs and increase computing power and flexibility through cloud services. East Company had been contemplating moving to the cloud, but West Company already had a vendor that was providing it with software-as-a-service (SaaS). Dick was looking forward to extending this service to the eastern region. Harry noted that this was a threat as well, because West Company had to rely on the third party to protect its data.
Tom mentioned that neither of the legacy companies had sufficient data storage space to meet the projected growth of New Company, which he saw as a weakness. Tom stated that one of the team's first projects would be to construct a consolidated New Company data warehouse. Tom would personally lead this project and would be held accountable if information was modified during transmission to or during storage in the new data warehouse.
Tom, Dick and Harry agreed that employee network access could be considered both a strength and a weakness. East Company and West Company had strong performance records in this regard; both had robust network access controls that were working as designed. However, during a projected year-long transition period, New Company employees would need to be able to connect to a New Company network while retaining access to the East Company and West Company networks.
When employees are working remotely, they usually connect to a Wi-Fi network. What should Harry advise for maintaining company security in this situation?

SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:
Declan has just started a job as a nursing assistant in a radiology department at Woodland Hospital. He has also started a program to become a registered nurse.
Before taking this career path, Declan was vaguely familiar with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). He now knows that he must help ensure the security of his patients' Protected Health Information (PHI). Therefore, he is thinking carefully about privacy issues.
On the morning of his first day, Declan noticed that the newly hired receptionist handed each patient a HIPAA privacy notice. He wondered if it was necessary to give these privacy notices to returning patients, and if the radiology department could reduce paper waste through a system of one-time distribution.
He was also curious about the hospital's use of a billing company. He questioned whether the hospital was doing all it could to protect the privacy of its patients if the billing company had details about patients' care.
On his first day Declan became familiar with all areas of the hospital's large radiology department. As he was organizing equipment left in the halfway, he overheard a conversation between two hospital administrators. He was surprised to hear that a portable hard drive containing non-encrypted patient information was missing. The administrators expressed relief that the hospital would be able to avoid liability. Declan was surprised, and wondered whether the hospital had plans to properly report what had happened.
Despite Declan's concern about this issue, he was amazed by the hospital's effort to integrate Electronic Health Records (EHRs) into the everyday care of patients. He thought about the potential for streamlining care even more if they were accessible to all medical facilities nationwide.
Declan had many positive interactions with patients. At the end of his first day, he spoke to one patient, John, whose father had just been diagnosed with a degenerative muscular disease. John was about to get blood work done, and he feared that the blood work could reveal a genetic predisposition to the disease that could affect his ability to obtain insurance coverage. Declan told John that he did not think that was possible, but the patient was wheeled away before he could explain why. John plans to ask a colleague about this.
In one month, Declan has a paper due for one his classes on a health topic of his choice. By then, he will have had many interactions with patients he can use as examples. He will be pleased to give credit to John by name for inspiring him to think more carefully about genetic testing.
Although Declan's day ended with many Questions, he was pleased about his new position.
What is the most likely way that Declan might directly violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)?

SCENARIO
Please use the following to answer the next QUESTION:
Larry has become increasingly dissatisfied with his telemarketing position at SunriseLynx, and particularly with his supervisor, Evan. Just last week, he overheard Evan mocking the state's Do Not Call list, as well as the people on it. "If they were really serious about not being bothered," Evan said, "They'd be on the national DNC list. That's the only one we're required to follow. At SunriseLynx, we call until they ask us not to." Bizarrely, Evan requires telemarketers to keep records of recipients who ask them to call "another time." This, to Larry, is a clear indication that they don't want to be called at all. Evan doesn't see it that way.
Larry believes that Evan's arrogance also affects the way he treats employees. The U.S. Constitution protects American workers, and Larry believes that the rights of those at SunriseLynx are violated regularly. At first Evan seemed friendly, even connecting with employees on social medi a. However, following Evan's political posts, it became clear to Larry that employees with similar affiliations were the only ones offered promotions.
Further, Larry occasionally has packages containing personal-use items mailed to work. Several times, these have come to him already opened, even though this name was clearly marked. Larry thinks the opening of personal mail is common at SunriseLynx, and that Fourth Amendment rights are being trampled under Evan's leadership.
Larry has also been dismayed to overhear discussions about his coworker, Sadie. Telemarketing calls are regularly recorded for quality assurance, and although Sadie is always professional during business, her personal conversations sometimes contain sexual comments. This too is something Larry has heard Evan laughing about. When he mentioned this to a coworker, his concern was met with a shrug. It was the coworker's belief that employees agreed to be monitored when they signed on. Although personal devices are left alone, phone calls, emails and browsing histories are all subject to surveillance. In fact, Larry knows of one case in which an employee was fired after an undercover investigation by an outside firm turned up evidence of misconduct. Although the employee may have stolen from the company, Evan could have simply contacted the authorities when he first suspected something amiss.
Larry wants to take action, but is uncertain how to proceed.
Which act would authorize Evan's undercover investigation?

What obligation does a data controller or processor have after appointing a data protection officer?

What does the Massachusetts Personal Information Security Regulation require as it relates to encryption of personal information?