With One Voice

ATHN is working to help clarify many of the confusing terms used when discussing data and specifically health data and healthcare technology. Simple definitions to help:

Data Encryption - The process of scrambling stored or transmitted information so that it is unintelligible until it is unscrambled by the intended recipient. It is used to secure sensitive communications of proprietary information.  All modern cryptography is based on the use of algorithms to scramble (encrypt) the original message, called plaintext, into unintelligible babble, called ciphertext.*  The operation of the algorithm requires the use of a key.  For HTC data stored in the central database, the encryption key will be held by Ground Zero, the developers of Lab Tracker.

Authentication – A process for positive and unique identification of users, implemented to control system access.**

Certificate – Coded authorization information that can be verified by a certificate authority to grant system access to authenticated users.**  For the centralized database, the CDC will issue digital certificates that will grant HTCs access to the data captured using Lab Tracker (web) and stored in an encrypted format at CDC.

(*Source:  The Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition, 2008, www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-dataencr,html)

(**Source:  Medical Informatics:  Computer Applications in Health Care and Biomedicine, second edition, 2001.)