How can I tell if my portal is secured?

All patient information communicated online should be encrypted according to the HIPAA Security Rule.  This is true for website "Contact Us" inquires as well as for more private types of communication.  Many healthcare practices ignore this basic rule.

Check the web page URL.   Do you see this?

Normally, when browsing the web, the URLs (web page addresses) begin with the letters "http". However, over a secure connection the address displayed should begin with "https" - note the "s" at the end.

Try it! - Go to a website where you expect a secure login. Note the URL begins with the "http" meaning this page is not secure. When you access the login page, you should notice a change in the URL so that it now begins with "https".  This means the user name and password typed in will be encrypted before sent to our server.

Check for the "Lock" Icon.  Do you see this?

There is a de facto standard among web browsers to display a "lock" icon somewhere in the window of the browser (NOT in the web page display area!) What you see above is an example of what you should see with the Microsoft Internet Explorer - a lock icon in the lower-right of the browser window.

As another example, Mozilla's FireFox Web Browser displays the lock icon in the lower-left corner:

THE LOCK ICON IS NOT JUST A PICTURE! Click (or double-click) on it to see details of the site's security. This is important to know because some fraudulent web sites are built with a bar at the bottom of the web page to imitate the lock icon of your browser! Therefore it is necessary to test the functionality built into this lock icon. Furthermore, it is very important to KNOW YOUR BROWSER! Check your browser's help file or contact the makers of your browser software if you are unsure how to use this functionality.