Online Backup Provider, IDrive Inc., Fully Prepared For New HIPAA Regulations and Business Associate Agreements

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Sep 17, 2013, 04:56 ET

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- HIPAA regulations are making headlines as businesses scramble to ensure they meet the new requirements that will take effect on September 23, 2013, but IDrive Inc., an offsite, online backup provider, is a step ahead.

HIPAA states that all business associates must comply with the same standards that were previously only for healthcare providers, health insurance plans, and employers. Business associates must implement policies and procedures to ensure that data is secure as they will now be held accountable to all HIPAA standards or face penalty fees, which have been increased.

These changes have been a concern for subcontractors and third party administrators as they strive to implement full HIPAA compliance into their frameworks. These regulations also affect data storage providers; many companies are being forced to change the way they manage user data. Raghu Kulkarni, CEO of IDrive, says, "We've been preparing for this. We created a HIPAA business associate agreement in the first quarter of 2013 to ensure we'd be prepared and ahead of the game when it came time for the revisions to take effect. Several of our business users have already requested the agreement and we will continue to fulfill each request to make sure the needs of our business users are consistently met."

IDrive Inc. offers a great deal of advantages over their competitors in online backup and data storage when it comes to HIPAA compliance:

Compliance Agreements
IDrive Inc. has been anticipating the implementation of HIPAA business associate regulations and has already taken the necessary steps to assist current users with setting up business associate agreements. IDrive also works with new users in the healthcare industry who are looking to incorporate HIPAA compliance into their plan. If contacted at the point of signup, IDrive can assist with the setup in order to meet a customer's specific needs.

Private Key Encryption
With the option for private key encryption, data becomes inaccessible to unauthorized users. If data is encrypted with a private key, known only to the account creator, nobody else can access their sensitive data. Even if the storage provider is forced to hand over data to officials, they will not be able to decrypt the data without the private key. IDrive Inc. requires all users who fall under HIPAA compliance to utilize a private key to ensure the full protection of their data. Further, IDrive still offers users complete, anywhere access to data, even with a private key, whereas other providers are unable to provide anywhere access for private key accounts.

Safeguards
IDrive Inc. is an extremely secure online backup and storage service that uses 256-bit AES encryption. It has passed Standard Occupational Classifications (SOC) audits to ensure that adequate safeguards are implemented to ensure the best security and data protection.

Officials are guaranteeing that the enforcement of the new regulations will be strongly enforced. "It's not worth the risk," Kulkarni adds. "The penalties are high and it's best to employ the highest security from the start for the benefit of our users."

About IDrive
IDrive Inc. is a privately held company specializing in cloud storage, online backup, file sharing, remote access, compliance, sync and related technologies. Core services include IDrive®, IDriveSync, IBackup®, RemotePC™ and EVS for developers. The company's services help over 2 million customers back up over 45 Petabytes of data.

SOURCE IDrive Inc.