This Web page is an online compendium of my writing, blogging, photos and other ephemera from a variety of sources. While most of my day to day writing happens on blogs (or Twitter, or Facebook), pfroberts.com serves as Web central for my work as a professional and contains information on contacting me, a copy of my resume, and links to some projects I’m working on..I hope you find this site useful!!
Most of what I write these days is for reading by paying customers of my employer. However, I do write for a broader audience on occasion, both about technology and about other subjects, as well. My work has appeared in the Boston Globe, Salon.com, Fortune Small Business, Improper Bostonian and elsewhere. I was, yes, a guest on The Oprah Show. Here are links to some things I’ve written recently:
Data Security: The Missing Piece of e-Discovery
SearchCompliance.com on 07/21/09
e-Discovery and response to discovery are top priorities for companies that worry about being on the wrong side of employee, shareholder or customer lawsuits. Lots of new tools exist to identify important documents and content on enterprise networks, but could issues of data (and network) integrity undermine the admissibility of those documents in court? Part of a regular series of columns on security and compliance-related topics that I contribute to TechTarget.
Critical Infrastructure at risk of Cyberattacks. What you can do.
SearchCompliance.com on 06/30/09
Today, private and public entities that manage critical infrastructure face both increasing threats and increasing oversight by auditors. On the threats side: Security experts note a high level of attack traffic directed at Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems –systems that control aspects of critical infrastructure. In the meantime, IT vendors of all stripes smell profit in security SCADA systems and other critical infrastructure and are rushing into the space, while compliance is often focused on filling checkboxes, not stopping attacks. What’s an IT administrator to do?
Dumped patient records underscore tougher HIPAA enforcement.
SearchCompliance.com on 05/26/09
It was back to the bad old days in Chattanooga, Tenn., when passersby recently discovered thousands of patient medical records in a mixed paper bin at the DuPont Recycling Center. The documents included graphic photos and sensitive health information, including the Social Security numbers of patients. The origin of the documents isn’t known, but police are pointing fingers at nearby Hutcheson Medical Center and a local plastic surgery practice as possible sources of the files. As any health care worker could tell you, document dumping runs afoul of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a 12-year-old regulation that covers patient privacy. But health care providers that might have been tempted to play fast and loose with HIPAA compliance rules in the past are in for a rude awakening, as a feistier DHHS combines with new HIPAA provisions that strengthen enforcement and stiffen civil penalties for violations.
