With the Sept. 23 compliance deadline for the HIPAA Omnibus Rule inching closer, new revelations about the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) ability to circumvent or crack much of the encryption that guards IT systems, including those for medical records, may stir more questions about the ability to protect and secure personal health information.

According to the New York Times article, NSA documents—which were part of information leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden—show that the NSA has invested billions of dollars to access encrypted or secured data. Part of this entails getting internet companies to voluntarily offer up access, forcing their cooperation with court orders or surreptitiously stealing their encryption keys or altering their software or hardwire. The history and nuts and bolts of the NSA program, and its ramifications, are explored in the story: