Winter Quarter at DePaul University

This semester we are VERY busy. Jeff is taking 1)Network Security class and 2)Information Security Management. I am taking just one class, Foundations in Network Telecommunications.

For those of our friends/family who are not aware of it, we are acting in several capacities at work.

Writers: We are currently writing two books on protecting yourself from litigation through information security for the Case Strategies conferences in March (San Francisco), April (Tampa), June (Las Vegas) and July (Orlando). Additionally we have been asked to speak at the July Indulge conference in Orlando, and we will be talking about the new stimulus bill that affects HIPAA, and how Legal Nurses can protect themselves by adhering to this regulation.

Legal Department: Veronica has taken on an appeals case in Ohio for a man that appears to have been wrongfully convicted of murder. She is researching the medical foundation of the shaken baby diagnosis, and Jeff and I are researching case law. We have found a case out of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals that is quite similar, and are working with the NAACP to try and get his appeals case heard in Ohio.

Information Security Analysts: We have taken on the tasks of writing the policies, revising procedures relating to credit card processing, implementing PCI standards and other info sec duties.

Talulah (photo below) Hamish (above photo)

Frontiers of Law in China

We are submitting an article to Frontiers of Law in China. We will be writing about "computer security and how it affects legal issues in different countries around the globe. We would like to write it from the perspective of several diverse countries (China, UK and the US) and how they are handling the problem of information security. We would like to focus on the positive ways each country handles their computer security issues, it will help readers understand the challenges that face each unique country. Readers will develop mutual respect as we all look for technology and solutions that will help us in our quest to keep people's private information safe."

The editor wrote back: Amanda 发件人"The topic you presented would be quite interesting to our journal 答复, please have it submitted to my e-mail when it is complete. 姜芙蓉 "

Now we will be published in three countries!

Information Security and the Expert Witness

One overlooked aspect by many in the expert witness and consulting industry is information security. According to the U.S. government, information security means protecting any material information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction. In the legal world, an attorney's failure to maintain proper information security can result in a lost case, fiduciary liability, and/or disbarment.

For an expert witness or consultant, your consequences may involve liability, being fired by the attorney, and/or destroying your good business name. In order to prevent these consequences from happening, you should safeguard any information obtained from the attorney client privilege, the work product doctrine. For the expert witness or consultant that analyzes medical records they must be careful to adhere to any pertinent Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations.

A more in depth article on the responsibilities of a consultant with regards to information security will be posted in the next week.


We will be lecturing on Information Security, HIPAA and other related topics at a private conference in San Francisco, CA on March 13-16.

We are Published

Here is the link to the articles published so far. X Pro published us in their UK and US editions, here are the links.

US edition: http://www.xprolegal.com/newsletters/jan09/index.php

UK edition: http://www.xproexperts.co.uk/newsletters/jan09/index.php

The Legal Medical Journal is publishing our article later this month, and our UK blog for them will be starting up in May.

Back from London

We just returned from our trip to London, which was very successful. We met with various solicitors, information security firms and Healthcare organizations to discuss various topics ranging from information security to the use of expert witnesses internationally.

Both our articles on expert witnesses have been published and each Journal has asked us to write a new article specifically on information security and HIPAA. I will post the link to the articles tomorrow.

Additionally, we have been asked to write a continuing blog about Legal Nurses and information security in America, with interactive features where healthcare companies can ask us questions about expert witnesses, HIPAA and legal matters.
We also were able to see a public demonstration while we were there. Protestors against the war in Gaza were marching and chanting about the attacks on Gaza by Isreal.

In London they historically have had 'Legal Observers' that are posted at public demonstrations and take notes and watch to make sure there is no police brutality occuring. We saw some Legal Observers that were watching the police activity in the Square that day.
The police had about fifty police cars and they were surrounding Trafalgar Square. Other police were hidden on side streets in vans, wearing full riot gear. Eventually the police blocked the demonstrations from marching several times, and then the demonstrators got angry. They began to march to the Israeli embassy in an attempt to overthrow it, and the riot police came out to stop them.

Some of them eventually smashed a few windows in some Starbucks up the street from us, although we did not see it happen.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4279688/Starbucks-smashed-and-looted-as-anti-Israel-protests-turn-to-violence.html

Welcome to Jeff and Mandy's Vikings Vault

This is a photo of us at Holborn Chambers in London, where we Interned during the summer of 2006. Vikings Vault is Mandy & Jeff's Information and Security blog. Our goal for this blog is to post tips for our friends and family on ways to protect themselves in the realm of information security.