Every healthcare worker should secure their home address.

The problem?

Most doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and social workers don't know they are at risk.

Here are four keys to understanding your risk. 🔑🏠 ⤵️

1 - Healthcare workers are experiencing a lot of harassment, including doxxing*

*publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the Internet.

@FutureDocs @trpender & @ShikhaJainMD discuss ⤵️

https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/05/doctors-on-social-media-are-being-cyberbullied-and-sexually-harassed-its-time-to-change-that/

2 - Easy access to your home address is one significant risk for doxxing.

Data brokers make it easy to quickly find where you live.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/01/12/youve-probably-never-heard-of-this-creepy-genealogy-site-but-its-heard-all-about-you/

Don't believe me? Look yourself up on Family Tree Now (https://www.familytreenow.com).

Unless you have a very common name, you'll probably find every address & phone number you've ever had, plus connections to numerous family members (& their home addresses).

Data Brokering is a bug business. There are many data broker companies selling your information for profit.

3 - Plus, as professionals with public oversight, we submit personal information to national & local government oversight programs.

One big risk source? Your National Provider Identification (NPI) number.

https://blog.doximity.com/articles/does-your-npi-profile-reveal-more-than-you-want

NPI registration asks you to enter your:

• Full Name

• Practice address

• Phone Number

• E-mail

But early in our careers, many folks enter their personal address, cell phone number, and/or personal e-mail address during registration.

That info follows you.

If you're going to keep practicing, you can't get rid of your NPI.

But you can review and update what personal data is out there about you as a clinician.

https://npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov/search

4 - Certain patient care arenas may further increase the risk you will be doxxed...

But unfortunately, with societal anger up, these risks aren't limited to any specific kind of patient care or location.

https://www.reliasmedia.com/articles/148882-privacy-breaches-and-reputation-terrorism-plague-abortion-providers

Abortion care providers face specific increased risks of being targeted.

In 2015, hackers published the names and home addresses of Planned Parenthood clinicians.

https://www.mic.com/articles/122947/why-did-hackers-attack-planned-parenthood

And gender-affirming care providers

"Health care providers and institutions are being targeted as part of a new tactic in a larger right-wing war against LGBTQ people and communities, as well as the people and institutions who serve them."

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/far-right-influencers-are-targeting-individual-doctors-rcna49701

And vaccination/public health experts

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/07/22/doxxing-harassment-threats-public-health-officials-targeted-online/7955818002/?gnt-cfr=1

And pharmacists

"Verbal attacks and threats of violence have also become increasingly concerning in recent months. In addition to reports of violence against pharmacists, the report said there have also been calls for doxxing pharmacists."

https://www.pharmacytimes.com/view/pharmacists-among-medical-professionals-scientists-facing-increased-online-harassment

TL;DR 🔑🏠

4 Keys for Healthcare workers to understand home address risks:

1 - Doxxing = big risk for HCWs

2 - Your home address is probably public

3 - Review your NPI info

4 - If you work in certain patient care areas, your risk may be higher

Check in tomorrow, when I'll share my thoughts on how to protect your home address.