The weak point of SMTP mail is said to be the DNS, that damage to the
databases on that can render the whole thing unworkable, and also that it is
said to be relatively easy to hack into the databases holding the real
identifiers of the messages and alter those, thus providing an apparent
pedigree for a bastardized message.
Not being one of the alleged 10 people in the UK who truly understand DNS...
It is further said that X400 servers are a tougher proposition.
Looking at this however there seems to me to be some safety in numbers, in
that if one is using (several) ISPs with SMTP, there would need to be a
conspiracy of Mulderesque proportions before a conversation could be
reliably faked if it involved more than one exchange between more than two
people.
As Ahmad says, this has little to do with clinical information - where in
any case the single file containing the core of the EMR should be encrypted
as it passes from one GP to another.
Indeed, given the volume, and the likely requirement to pass some of the
legacy paper records and images neither digitised nor held elsewhere, as
well as the usefulness of having a permanent copy of the record, it may be
quite sensible to just post the encrypted CD-ROM as we do with the existing
notes.
And, although NHS Net is chugging along nicely at present, it may not always
be slower than an emailed transaction.
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