Handling medical data safely at medical symposia

A medical symposium is all about sharing knowledge: research findings, abstracts, new treatment methods, and valuable discussions between professionals. However, in an environment where so much information converges, there is one thing you absolute want to avoid: sensitive data ending up where it doesn’t belong. As an organizer, you deal with participants’ personal data and potentially even health data within abstracts or case studies. How do you ensure that this information is processed securely without making your event unnecessarily complex? It starts with being conscious of data handling and choosing event technology built with information security at its core.

Data Security at a Medical Symposium

A medical or scientific conference isn’t entirely comparable to a regular corporate event. Consider abstracts, scientific posters, speaker information, participant registrations, and the data required for accreditation. Not all of this information automatically falls under the category of medical data. For instance, a participant’s name, job title, or session selection is personal data, but not health data.

That changes as soon as information reveals something about the health of an identifiable individual. Under the GDPR, health data is categorized as special category personal data and is therefore subject to extra protection. The Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) emphasizes that this data is highly sensitive. For an organizer, this mainly means understanding what information flows through your various systems and considering well before the event what is truly necessary.

Do not collect more data than you need

Collecting more data just because it might be useful someday? When it comes to personal data, that is not a good starting point. A key principle of the GDPR is data minimization: collect and process only the personal data that is necessary for the specific purpose you need it for. For a medical symposium, this is a practical question. For example, does certain patient information really need to be part of an abstract that participants can view in the event app? Is all of a participant’s profile information necessary? And who should be able to see specific information? Particularly with case studies, it is wise to critically evaluate whether information can be traced back to an individual patient. Where personal data is not required, anonymous information is preferred from a privacy perspective. This not only makes your data stream more secure, but often more manageable as well.

Choose an event platform with demonstrable security

As an organizer, you can handle data carefully, but you are also dependent on the systems you use. That is why “our software is secure” is not really enough. You want to see what measures a vendor takes and how information security is structurally organized. Networkapp was recertified on November 14 according to the latest 2022 ISO/IEC 27001:2022 standard. This means its Information Security Management System is implemented according to this international standard and is independently audited. In addition, we regularly conduct vulnerability tests and monitor our code and infrastructure for vulnerabilities. For organizers of medical conferences, this is relevant. After all, you are not just choosing an app where participants check their schedule. The platform becomes part of a larger chain in which participant, program, and event data are processed.

Look at the entire data chain

Especially at medical conferences, multiple systems often work alongside each other. Registration takes place in one system, abstracts are submitted in another platform, and the program then appears in the event app. For example, Networkapp integrates with registration and abstract software such as Easydus, Eventure, and Oxford Abstracts. This avoids a lot of manual retyping and loose files, but it also means security doesn’t stop at a single platform. That is why it is important to look at the connections between systems as well. At Networkapp, integrations with partners run via encrypted HTTPS connections. Event data in the backend is hosted on servers within the European Union. This allows you to look beyond the security of a single application and focus on the route data takes throughout the entire event process.

Give participants control where possible

Security isn’t just about what happens behind the scenes. What participants can see of one another also deserves attention. Within Networkapp, the organizer can determine which information is included in the participant list. Participants can also manage their own privacy settings. This is important for a medical symposium, where attendees might be doctors, researchers, nurse specialists, or representatives from healthcare organizations. After all, not every participant needs automatic access to all information about every other attendee, think of closed AGMs (Annual General Meetings) or specific committees.

Think about what happens after the symposium

Data security doesn’t stop when the last speaker leaves the stage. A variety of data often remains long after the event ends: attendance records, evaluations, participant lists, interaction data, and exports shared internally. Here too, the GDPR applies the principle that personal data may not be stored longer than necessary for the purpose for which it was collected. With Networkapp, we have standard retention periods and provide participants with options to view, modify, or delete their personal data.

An all-in-one, secure event platform

Networkapp combines features for programs, abstracts, participant communication, interaction, and networking into a single event environment. The platform is ISO 27001-certified, uses European hosting for event data, and relies on technical and organizational security measures to protect event information.

Are you organizing a medical or scientific conference soon? Discover how Networkapp helps you bring participants, programs, abstracts, and interaction together in a secure event environment.