Some time back a SF member noted that medical offices seem to communicate with each other via Fax and not email. I notice that medical information is often sent in that fashion. Is sending a fax a more secure way of communication?

I can't count the number of times I've gotten faxes intended for someone else, some of these from medical offices.

Email is inherently more secure, but the technology is less commonly understood so perception varies more widely. Email has the capability of being very secure using various forms of encryption (both in transit, and for content protection), but requires that the users know what they are doing, and pay attention.

Believe that back in the early 90s, before the internet age, it was already a rumour that the Israelis were reading everybody's incoming and outgoing faxes.

0-0

In many circles, a fax is considered a legal form of communication as the two sides have to connect.

An normal email does not have that security. Secure email might, but many people have no way to use that method.

I think fax was preferred sometime back because it could send a signature.

flashguy

I've had this discussion with my wife. They are forced to either communicate via fax or internal system (medical). No external email.

As to email, there are security boxes that most title companies now use for more secure email communications. They are basically emails within an email. You have to be registered with their system to access the secured version.

When you say "secure" the level needs to be defined.
You want to confirm who is sending the communications.
You want to confirm the receipt and perhaps the identity of the recipient and more.
You want the transmission to get from point A to point B without the ability to alter, intercept or read the message.

Both CAN be secured.

Also, most people have converted their fax to providing PDFs for their computer file.

in which case, a paper fax machine is not required.

I would think the send/receive scenario described would still be "legal"

Hacked email/computer would then be a concern

quote:

Originally posted by SigSAC:
In many circles, a fax is considered a legal form of communication as the two sides have to connect.

An normal email does not have that security. Secure email might, but many people have no way to use that method.

Interesting but seems one has to send an email and one has to receive. Either fax or email, one has to pick up the fax or open the email.

My very non-expert opinion is that a fax is more secure because it uses phone lines rather than the internet.

Except sending faxes via the internet is probably more common than having actual fax machines.

Under the Federal law HIPAA, you can send PHI (Personal/Private Health Information) via fax or regular mail but if you want to send it by other means like email, it must be secure.

So it's just easier to fax things like medical records, health insurance enrollment forms, etc. versus email.

My employer, a Fortune 500 company, considers fax more secure than email. If we are caught disseminating the wrong information via email, we will be terminated.

My agency still does a majority of its communication with other agencies via fax still. I am not really sure why.

quote:

Originally posted by GaryBF:
My very non-expert opinion is that a fax is more secure because it uses phone lines rather than the internet.

And you would be wrong.

I think one thing which makes a fax more 'secure' is the receiver can't instantly forward it to the entire world, or cut and paste it into other electronic media - as you can do with an email. Sure, the receiver can scan it to something and forward, but it's more steps required.

Then again all the faxing I do is via PDF and a computer application - and I assume many receivers do the same as well.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
I think fax was preferred sometime back because it could send a signature.

flashguy

Scanned signatures are better images of the signature than a fax, if the legitimacy of the signature is disputed, and needs to be analyzed. Digital signatures on a "locked" pdf are even better. Both, along with digitally certified copies of records, are regularly deemed acceptable in criminal court cases, so there is no reason to believe a faxed signature would be deemed "better," in any other legal dispute, in courts that have a much lower burden of proof.

I recently bought and sold a house, and all the docs were digitally signed, and transmitted with encryption. No ink signatures, no faxes. Again, there is nothing in that process that would make a fax better, or more secure.

Further, when it comes to document control, fax transmission allows anyone with physical access to the fax machine to intercept the document, and then copy/transmit with no accountability. Email creates greater control, accountability, as it documents exactly who received the documents.

Continued use of fax machines is anachronism, and those who prefer their use, including medical facilites, are most often refusing to change, because they either are stuck in the, "this is the way we've always done it," mentality, or like to use the " I never got the fax," because faxes are much less reliable than email.