Encryption means methods of rendering personally identifiable information unusable, unreadable, or indecipherable to unauthorized persons through the use of a technology or methodology specified or permitted by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services in guidance issued under 42 USC Section 17932(h)(2).
Encrypt means to encode Confidential Information into a format that can only be read by those possessing a “key”; a password, digital certificate or other mechanism available only to authorized users. Encryption must use a key length of at least 256 bits for symmetric keys, or 2048 bits for asymmetric keys. When a symmetric key is used, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) must be used if available.
Encrypted means the transformation of data into a form which results in a low probability of assigning meaning without the use of a protective process or key.
VPN means a virtual private network.