“Cybersecurity may be fought with technology, but it is people who triumph. We must invest in the future generations of professionals who will carry on the fight.”
As worldwide cyber security threats shut down organisations and violate privacy left and right, hospitals and healthcare sectors need to make sure their cyber security strategies are primed to keep them ahead of the threats.The number of American healthcare data breaches almost doubled in 2016, averaging more than one data breach per day in 2016 for a total of 450, up from the 253 breaches that took place in 2015.
(1) The 2016 Data Breach Incident Report describes healthcare as one of the most affected industries by cybersecurity threats, both insider and privilege misuse.
(2)Half of the breaches were caused by insider threats and the remaining was from external forces which included hacking.
It is clear that the healthcare industry, like any other, is facing increasing security challenges. What makes their challenges unique, and therefore more difficult to solve, is that implementing industry-standard cybersecurity practices isn’t practical.The value of cyber security as providing a competitive advantage and ensuring better patient care.However, considering the healthcare sector is woefully behind in adopting information technology, it is difficult to see a horizon that is able to keep up with the velocity of cybersecurity threats.
Protecting the Cloud Data & Mobile Devices:
Cloud Data and Mobile and technologies, as well as healthcare exchanges, are all changing the way healthcare organizations manage risk internally, extend security to their partners and ensure security in concert with their application providers.Demand for consumer-facing applications, especially mobile applicationand spawns a whole new set of concerns and risks. Such applications rely on consumers to manage their own sensitive data.
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How do we keep this Cloud data secure?
Security can be increased on devices and applications, however user access still remains a vulnerable in how sensitive information is accessed and shared.Medical data such as patient records are typically accessed from one common point that may or may not be managed under company policy.
Modern Mobile Device Management and other device management programs are beginning to help reinforce these efforts with such capabilities as alerting a user when a possible policy violation is detected.Healthcare Employees monitoring applications are becoming standard in many healthcare companies, particularly those handling sensitive software such as in the healthcare sector. This software monitors what users are doing while logged in remotely and helps to provide clear evidence and root causes during investigations of security breaches.This software is often necessary for compliance and auditing purposes as in the case of HIPAA medical regulations regarding handling of patient records.
It is the duty of every healthcare organization, especially those which handle sensitive data like those in the healthcare sector, to ensure they take every practical measure possible to reduce the likelihood of future threats.
“The healthcare sector is a prime target for medical information theft as it lags behind other leading industries in securing vital data and it is imperative that time and funding is invested in maintaining and ensuring the protection of healthcare technology and the confidentially of patient information from unauthorised access.”