When the information is not yours to lose
Some information is heavier than other information. Health records, financial details, anything about children, anything that would harm someone if it were seen. If your site or app holds that kind of thing, the standard is higher and the mistakes cost more.
Four things that should be true of any build holding it
- End-to-end encryption. The information is scrambled while it travels and while it sits, so a stolen copy is unreadable.
- Only the people who need it. Access given by role, not handed around, and removable the day somebody leaves.
- A record of who looked. If you cannot answer who opened this and when, you cannot answer the question that matters after an incident.
- Less data, kept less long. The safest record is the one you did not keep.
The paperwork, and why it comes first
Two documents are signed before anybody is given access. A business associate agreement sets out how protected information must be handled by anyone working on your behalf. A non-disclosure agreement keeps what we see private. Signed first, not afterwards.
What to ask anyone else you hire: where will the data physically live, who on your side can see it, and what happens to your copy when the work ends. If the answers are vague, that is your answer.
We design the storage, build the protections into the system rather than bolting them on, and write down exactly how it was done. Specific obligations for your industry are covered at your consultation and in your agreement.