FTC urged to update health breach notification regulations

The Federal Trade Commission is being urged to update its health breach notification regulations as the public comment period for its proposed modifications ended Aug. 8, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. Many of the 117 organizations and individuals left comments pointing out the significant privacy issues users face. The independent agency has proposed a number of changes, including clarifying that health apps and other similar non-HIPAA technologies can be subject to the health breach reporting requirement; defining what constitutes a "breach of security" in the context of the regulation to include illegal acquisition of identifiable health information resulting from unauthorized disclosure or a data security breach; and extending guidelines for the type of information shared to consumers whose data has been compromised.