WARNING: File-sharing Risk for Sensitive Data

Physicians who use file-sharing software (like BitTorrent , Kazaa, or LimeWire) on their computers could inadvertently put their patients' health and financial information at risk, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.

A year-long study analyzed 23 million to 24 million files in the U.S. and Canada, finding that personal health & financial information could be accessed through a simple search in 5% of U.S. files -- hundreds of thousands of files, including Social Security numbers, patient insurance information, personal banking information, and more.