HIPAA requires covered entities and business associates to implement technical safeguards that protect the infrastructure supporting electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI). DNS is part of that infrastructure. ZoneWatcher helps you monitor and document the security of your DNS layer.
Why DNS Matters for HIPAA
Your DNS records determine how patients, providers, and systems reach your applications. A compromised MX record can redirect email containing ePHI. A modified A record can send users to a phishing site designed to harvest credentials. A missing or incorrect SPF record can allow spoofed emails from your domain. These aren't theoretical risks — they're the kind of infrastructure-level threats HIPAA's Security Rule is designed to address.
Relevant Security Rule Safeguards
§164.312(b) — Audit Controls
HIPAA requires mechanisms to record and examine activity in systems that contain or use ePHI. ZoneWatcher logs every DNS change across your domains with timestamps, previous values, and new values. This audit trail covers your DNS infrastructure without requiring manual log collection.
§164.308(a)(6)(ii) — Response and Reporting
Covered entities must identify and respond to suspected or known security incidents. ZoneWatcher's real-time alerts on DNS changes provide early detection of potential incidents like domain hijacking or unauthorized record modifications. Notifications are delivered through email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Discord so your security team can respond promptly.
§164.312(c)(1) — Integrity Controls
Policies and procedures must protect ePHI from improper alteration or destruction. DNS records are a part of this picture — they control how data flows between systems. ZoneWatcher detects unauthorized changes to your DNS records, helping you verify that the routing of ePHI-related traffic hasn't been tampered with.
§164.312(e)(1) — Transmission Security
Technical security measures must guard against unauthorized access to ePHI being transmitted over a network. ZoneWatcher monitors TLS/SSL certificates through Certificate Transparency logs, alerting you to unauthorized certificate issuances that could enable man-in-the-middle attacks on encrypted connections carrying ePHI.
Risk Analysis and Management
HIPAA's Security Rule begins with risk analysis (§164.308(a)(1)(ii)(A)). Your DNS infrastructure should be part of that analysis. ZoneWatcher gives you visibility into your DNS posture across all providers and domains, making it easier to identify risks like:
Domains without proper email authentication records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
DNS records pointing to decommissioned infrastructure
Unexpected changes that may indicate compromised provider credentials
Certificates issued for your domains that you didn't request
Documentation for Compliance Reviews
HIPAA requires covered entities to maintain documentation of their security measures. ZoneWatcher automatically generates a continuous record of your DNS monitoring activity, including change history and alerting evidence. This documentation is available whenever you need it — for internal reviews, OCR audits, or business associate assessments.
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