What It Is

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a U.S. federal regulation establishing national standards for protecting individuals' health information. It comprises the Privacy Rule, Security Rule, and Breach Notification Rule, applying a risk-based approach to govern use, disclosure, and safeguarding of protected health information (PHI) and electronic PHI (ePHI) for covered entities and business associates.

Key Components

• **Privacy RuleControls PHI uses/disclosures, minimum necessary principle, patient rights.
• **Security RuleAdministrative, physical, technical safeguards; 19 standards with required/addressable specs.
• **Breach Notification RulePresumption-of-breach model, four-factor risk assessment, 60-day notifications. Built on flexible, scalable governance; enforced via OCR audits, no formal certification but documentation required.

Why Organizations Use It

Mandated for healthcare providers, plans, clearinghouses; reduces breach risks, ensures patient trust, avoids penalties up to $2M annually. Strategic benefits include cyber resilience, vendor accountability, market differentiation.

Implementation Overview

Phased: assess risks, build safeguards/BAAs/training, operate with monitoring/audits. Applies to U.S. healthcare entities of all sizes; ongoing compliance via documented risk management. (178 words)

What It Is

FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) is a U.S. government-wide standardized framework for security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring of cloud services used by federal agencies. Its primary purpose is to enable secure, reusable cloud adoption via NIST SP 800-53-based controls tailored to FIPS 199 impact levels (Low, Moderate, High), reducing duplication across agencies.

Key Components

• Baselines with ~156-410 controls across 20 families, including LI-SaaS for low-risk SaaS.
• Core artifacts: System Security Plan (SSP), Security Assessment Report (SAR), Plan of Action & Milestones (POA&M).
• Built on NIST standards; uses accredited 3PAOs for independent assessments.
• Compliance via Agency or Program Authorizations, with ongoing continuous monitoring.

Why Organizations Use It

• Mandatory for federal cloud providers to access government contracts.
• Enhances risk management, market access, and reuse across agencies.
• Builds stakeholder trust via rigorous, transparent security posture.
• Competitive edge in federal procurement and commercial sales.

Implementation Overview

• Phased process: categorization, documentation, 3PAO assessment, authorization.
• Applies to CSPs of all sizes targeting U.S. federal market.
• Requires 3PAO audits; timelines 10-19 months, costs $150k-$2M+.