so in my previous thread, someone suggested www.gotomypc.com for us to take control of the office computer and print remotely. we signed up, it’s GREAT:-) now i want to knwo how safe it is for a mdeical office… thanks!
Marisol,
I will not likely be able to answer your question. I did want to clarify it though. When you ask if it is safe for a medical office, you are probably thinking in terms of privacy? It seems as though you should be able to put some level of encryption or at least access passwords. But I don’t know how to do that. I also don’t know if that would meet the security litmus test for these sorts of things.
Bernie
ok, thanks. but i also meant for hackers…
No experience with gotomypc.com but putting the control of your hosts in the hands of a 3d party does seem a bit risky, but that is just a trust thing. Another concern with Gotomypc, what if their server is down or gets hacked - then what? Also, what information does this service collect about the target PC? While more expensive, another alternative for companies that require remote access for employees would be to setup a Virtual Private Network. Not only is a VPN more secure, you have complete control over the network and the users and what they can and cannot do. You may have to setup access-lists or conduits in your firewall for the specific systems the user needs access to but you can also setup where the user is either static or dhcp. GOToMyPC is secure, but the VPN is more secure.
I know it’s more secure, I paid a lot of money to set up the VPN. However, with VPN, you can’t PRINT remotely. Very annoying, it’s prints at the office. I need my girl to print at home, and gotomypc lets her do that which was great!
I believe I’m the one who mentioned it…It’s very safe and secure, but there are some things to consider about this technology…
-
When you connect to the remote PC, no “content” data is being sent over the network, only pixels. What makes this technology work fast is that when you click on an icon or move something on the screen, it sends the screen changes to you, hence VERY LOW overhead and fast performance. The application (Word, e-mail, medical records, etc) runs on the remote machine using its processor, RAM, etc and just send the screen changes to you. So if a hacker got the data stream, all they would see is “change pixel 2345x1234 from green to red”, etc.
-
Printing DOES send the content over the wire. But again, the people would need to be looking for a print stream instead of actual data being sent. Not hard to do, but not everyone is looking for this.
-
There SHOULD be encryption available.
MANY medical offices use this type of technology without problems and remain HIPAA compliant. Again, you should read the fine print from Citrix to make sure of this since it’s been too long since I’ve worked with them, but I believe you really won’t have any problems.
If you REALLY wanted to secure it, then you could connect via an encrypted VPN tunnel and add encryption, but honestly that would be overkill.
thanks!
I use LogMeIn. There is a free version that provides all the features I need and it is secure.
It has great reviews and I like it.
I use LogMeIn. There is a free version that provides all the features I need and it is secure.
It has great reviews and I like it.
www.logmein.com
I use logmein also…use it daily from home in the evenings to do my charting. Godsend. Love it.
HC
Gotomypc is one of the best remote access pieces of software available and is also one of the safest from hackers.
The hacking of personal PC’s is also relatively rare as the best and most capable hackers usually attack corporate and government networks where the rewards are highest.
so in my previous thread, someone suggested www.gotomypc.com for us to take control of the office computer and print remotely. we signed up, it’s GREAT:-) now i want to knwo how safe it is for a mdeical office… thanks!
No Gotomypc is NOT HIPPA compliant. Do you have a Windows Server at your office? If you do, you can RDP to the server, and or do a terminal services connection. This really is no more secure and more of a pain in the butt…the GoToMyPC product works great and is so so simple. Oh, another option is PCAnywhere…this is software that you own and install, takes the thrid party out of it.
I know it’s more secure, I paid a lot of money to set up the VPN. However, with VPN, you can’t PRINT remotely. Very annoying, it’s prints at the office. I need my girl to print at home, and gotomypc lets her do that which was great!
Why cant you print with the VPN? You know what VPN you are using? If you have a Client to Site VPN there is no reason that you could not print to a local printer UNLESS you have a VPN to the office and connect to the application with “Remote Desktop” - RDP = no local printing.
Not knowing anything about gotomypc.com I did a quick google search that turned up a few opinions. Most of them were not favorable from network and security admins.
They VPN from home and print at the office but she’s trying to print from the office to one of her coworkers regular desktops at home that isn’t on the network.
They VPN from home and print at the office but she’s trying to print from the office to one of her coworkers regular desktops at home that isn’t on the network.
I got that, but if this is a local app that is ONLY of the office PC she is SOL with out PC Anywhere or gotomypc.com, there are applications such as NetPrint but I doubt that the home printer has its own IP (NAT’ed or not). If this is a database centric application, often we instal the app on the local (home) computer and have it find the data on a mapped network drive (via VPN)
hey chip, are you sure it’s NOT HIPPA compliant? I absolutly need to print elsewhere and vpn, I take remote control of the computer and it prints at the office. with gotomypc, printing at home works like a charm:-)
I was just looking at this. Maybe you know more about it in terms of HIPAA. I didn’t realize that Windows XP has a built-in VPN server. They might be able to forward some ports through their home router and use that? I’ve never used it myself but it could be an option.
http://safari.oreilly.com/0596005113/winxphks-CHP-5-SECT-22
http://www.hackernotcracker.com/2007-04/using-virtual-private-networking-vpn-to-avoid-packet-sniffinganalysis-and-data-theft.html
hey chip, are you sure it’s NOT HIPPA compliant? I absolutly need to print elsewhere and vpn, I take remote control of the computer and it prints at the office. with gotomypc, printing at home works like a charm:-)
The issue is that you dont have a contract with gotomypc as pertaining to medical records and patient demographic information, as you would with a lab or other outside company that you work with (billing, collections and so on). They do have the ability (though they are not looking) to look at any and all data that you move from point A to B. PC Anywhere pulls that third party out. But, also dont forget - there is no such thing as the “HIPPA Police”
yeah that’s what I was wonderig… The HIPPA police… I am trying to get things smoother here since both my girls moved away , I still want them to do the billing. what a nightmare it is to start with!
That’s because the acronym is “HIPAA”. Sorry - had to throw that in…just a small pet peeve of mine 