[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR164.304]

[Page 710-711]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
                           AND HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 164--SECURITY AND PRIVACY--Table of Contents
 
Subpart C--Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected 
                           Health Information
 
Sec. 164.304  Definitions.

    As used in this subpart, the following terms have the following 
meanings:
    Access means the ability or the means necessary to read, write, 
modify, or communicate data/information or otherwise use any system 
resource. (This definition applies to ``access'' as used in this 
subpart, not as used in subpart E of this part.)
    Administrative safeguards are administrative actions, and policies 
and procedures, to manage the selection, development, implementation, 
and maintenance of security measures to protect electronic protected 
health information and to manage the conduct of the covered entity's 
workforce in relation to the protection of that information.
    Authentication means the corroboration that a person is the one 
claimed.
    Availability means the property that data or information is 
accessible and useable upon demand by an authorized person.
    Confidentiality means the property that data or information is not 
made available or disclosed to unauthorized persons or processes.
    Encryption means the use of an algorithmic process to transform data 
into

[[Page 711]]

a form in which there is a low probability of assigning meaning without 
use of a confidential process or key.
    Facility means the physical premises and the interior and exterior 
of a building(s).
    Information system means an interconnected set of information 
resources under the same direct management control that shares common 
functionality. A system normally includes hardware, software, 
information, data, applications, communications, and people.
    Integrity means the property that data or information have not been 
altered or destroyed in an unauthorized manner.
    Malicious software means software, for example, a virus, designed to 
damage or disrupt a system.
    Password means confidential authentication information composed of a 
string of characters.
    Physical safeguards are physical measures, policies, and procedures 
to protect a covered entity's electronic information systems and related 
buildings and equipment, from natural and environmental hazards, and 
unauthorized intrusion.
    Security or Security measures encompass all of the administrative, 
physical, and technical safeguards in an information system.
    Security incident means the attempted or successful unauthorized 
access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction of information or 
interference with system operations in an information system.
    Technical safeguards means the technology and the policy and 
procedures for its use that protect electronic protected health 
information and control access to it.
    User means a person or entity with authorized access.
    Workstation means an electronic computing device, for example, a 
laptop or desktop computer, or any other device that performs similar 
functions, and electronic media stored in its immediate environment.