As an IT support specialist at a hospital, you are tasked with troubleshooting a workstation in the cardiology department. During your task, you notice that an application containing patient records appears to be malfunctioning, potentially exposing patient information. What is the FIRST action you should take in response to this situation?
Report the incident to the information security team or compliance officer immediately.
Reboot the system to see if the malfunction resolves itself.
Log off all users from the application to prevent further potential exposure.
Continue troubleshooting the application without interruption to avoid delays in medical staff workflow.
The correct action to take when noticing a malfunction that could lead to a data breach is to immediately report the incident to the relevant authority within the organization, such as the information security department or compliance officer. This ensures that proper incident response protocols are followed, which may include mitigating any risks of data exposure, preserving evidence, and documenting the incident in accordance with healthcare regulations and laws such as HIPAA. The incorrect answers involve steps that are either part of a later stage in an incident response process or actions that could potentially exacerbate the situation (e.g., rebooting the system may cause loss of valuable evidence needed for an investigation).
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What are HIPAA regulations and why are they important in this context?
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What is an incident response protocol and what does it typically include?
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What could happen if I delay reporting a malfunction that exposes patient information?