Implementing The Network 's Security

HIPAA and HITECH lay out strict standards governing information security and privacy of patient information. While HIPAA/HITECH may be a boon to the security of healthcare information, they also throw up a number of challenges like high costs, tracking regulatory changes, extensive documentation and several others. HITECH is the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, which brings additional compliance standards to healthcare organizations. It is directly related to HIPAA, and was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.EHR systems can also offer increased patient privacy & security when compared to traditional paper records. Encrypted electronic patient records can be protected against unauthorized

Automation and interconnections with information in their healthcare environments need increasing support, security measures need to be implemented without disrupting the workflow of approved users, costs associated with data breaches and damage to their reputation need to be avoided. IT budgets constraints also impose limitations in many healthcare institutions. Compliance with security and privacy related regulations in healthcare and making sure what policies and standards should be implemented requires solutions that clearly address security challenges so that they can be integrated into a healthcare institution’s existing infrastructure and business practice. As data is transmitted across countless environments and is stored on an ever-expanding grouping of endpoint and storage devices such as computers, laptops, and removable storage devices, it will become evident that there will be a need for strong encryption. Under the HITECH Act and comparable state laws, encrypted data that is received or acquired by unauthorized persons through a lost or stolen electronic device or an errant email, is typically not considered a breach. However, healthcare institutions need to determine the level of encryption they should adopt. For example, a hospital could decide where there is the greatest risk of information loss (patient data in email messages or on storage drive) that is not on internal

For example, “a hospital staff clicked on a link in an email which installed a worm. The worm spread through the hospital’s network and then hid inside the medical devices. The IT team thought it caught the worm everywhere and cleaned it out, but missed the infections inside the devices, where the worm then created a back door in the hospital. From there, the attacker was able to move carefully within the hospital network to identify and exfiltrate key data,” Wright (general manager at TrapX) said. “The standard hospital cyber security suite could not scan or detect any activity within the medical device.” TrapX recently found similar attacks in three separate hospitals’ X-ray equipment, blood gas analyzers and other devices (Sidel, 2015). To combat this, hospitals are employing HiTrust Alliance to create a security framework that incorporates best practices and recommendations from NIST, HIPAA, and other regulations and frameworks into one uniform

Many efforts exist that are comparable to what the Oregon CCoE intends to pursue, but very few states actually include all of the ingredients that are emphasized in the cybersecurity-as-a-public-good literature. Bits and pieces from multiple states should be considered when compiling the proposal for the Oregon CCoE. The Secure Colorado model, as implemented from the beginning of the program, best fits Oregon’s capacity and goals. Colorado started with a $6,000 cybersecurity budget and no strategic plan. Within 3 years 98% of the state’s systems are

The safeguard of patient health information and consumer information is effectively and sufficiently guarded is the upmost importance to any organization. Information security is important because it the law. Any deficiency of an effective information security program can be costly to an organization and be detrimental to patients and consumers. Organizations must be aware of the growing opportunities for breaches in security as technology is advancing is making the collection, maintenance, and dissemination of protected health information easier (Sayles, 2013). The following two security breaches will identify threats, and provide a security plan for the organization.

The risk of protected health information being breached has grown dramatically within the past few years, and to combat the threat, the HIPAA Security Rule was created to provide organizations with administrative, physical, and technical guidelines to safeguard their electronic personal health information. These rules have spawned courses of action that healthcare systems can implement to thwart breaches on patient health information such as:

Event- 2. Though nothing is full proof in the current world of Internet and cyber attacks, proper planning and investment can prevent data theft to some extent. Health care organization can improve their heath data security status by investing in their incident response approaches, which will include documenting a formalized response process, and by building an incident response team to deal with it. Keeping relationship with outside experts to prevent hacking of data is helpful. Having all experts from all fields like IT personnel, security gurus, and operational people is not important, rather having a multi-dimensional and multi-disciplinary team who will understand the process is better to prevent security threats (Moore, 2014). Measures such as two-fold sign-in passwords/Captcha could have been implemented by Anthem. There should have been proper cyber security protocols instead of having a lax protocol, which made the hacker a way to invade into the

The cases of hospital cyber attacks have been on the increase in the recent years. For example, there was a rise in the total cases of data breaches in the United States of America in 2014. According to a report that was presented by the ITRC (Identity Theft Resource Center), data breaches in U.S hospitals in 2014 increased by 27.5% when compared to the previous years. In 2015, data breaches in hospital have reached 5,029 that include an estimation of 675 million records (Fensholt & Holloway, 2013). In 2014, the healthcare industry recorded the highest cases of data breaches, followed by the business sector.

Thousands of sick and injured people depend on hospitals to take care of them while they recover, including protecting their confidential information in the hospital databases. Hundreds of hackers rely on these databases to steal those patients’ identities. The company Security Operations assists in making sure it is nearly impossible to access the files, and everyone follows regulatory requirements. Emily Jones, a director of the company Security Operations, manages a team to make the process go smoothly. Every day for the past two years, Emily would sit in conference calls with her team and review the daily analysis of data and policies for the hospital risks. In this I.T. (Information technology) field, herself and team protect cyber

As technology becomes increasingly infused with our daily lives, information security has become a universal concern. An examination of the healthcare system reveals that it is not exempt from the same information security challenges that other organizations face. The use of information technology in healthcare offers significant benefits, such as improved safety and healthcare quality, reduced cost of healthcare, greatly increased efficiency within healthcare operations, and better collaboration among healthcare professionals. However, as provider and patient data are converted into digital form, ensuring information security can become a daunting task. While there has been significant progress, healthcare IT is still in its infancy, and

Health care systems must deal with a recurrent battle to improve regulation in order to safeguard the patient health information. However, data breaches continue in the everyday common industry and it is the duty of the health care advisors to make data security the highest importance. According to the NIST standard, the key purposes of risk assessments are to identify "relevant threats" to the organization, including "vulnerabilities, both internal and external," and the "likelihood that harm will occur, (Kaner, 2015).”

One major problem the industry faces today is unauthorized access into their computer software infrastructure. Vulnerabilities in the system software, especially the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), provides hackers the opportunity to completely take control of the affected systems, allowing them to steal protected patient data, install malicious software programs, and/or commit cybervandalism. However, if the attempt fails to exploit the system, Denial of Service (DoS) conditions could result, making it impossible for legitimate users to gain access. Desktop productivity software tools, such as Microsoft Access poses software vulnerabilities due to hidden bugs or program defects. Although businesses use encryption to protect digital information, hackers are finding ways to exploit the digital credentials of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) system by using phishing scams. From a security standpoint, the healthcare industry is ill-prepared in dealing with hackers looking to gain access to highly confidential data, even with HIPAA laws enforced. The organizations' failure to recognize where risks are and how to implement preventive security controls can have devastating repercussions on their stockholders. Although errors in application controls can be corrected with a process called patch management, those less prepared tend to be one step behind the threats, impacting the businesses’ time and bottom line. Identify theft, which has increased exponentially, can have a significant effect on customers’ financials and time lost by correcting erroneous information. As cybercrime increases, it is imperative healthcare organizations and their leaders start protective proactive measures, this includes performing risk assessments, implement a security policy, and conducting information systems audits to

They meet for open discussions using education, advocacy, and collaboration to further their mission in designing, carrying-out, and managing security protection programs in different kinds of healthcare settings and organizations (HIMSS & Society, 2010). Some of the members involved in the discussions include students, various stakeholders, healthcare professionals, physicians, consultants, IT vendors, and anyone else who is interested in the health IT industry (HIMSS & Society, 2010).

In 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) provision was enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). It was created to help strengthen and reinforce the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) which protects a patients’ health information, as well as uncover fraud in the health care system. With the creation of HITEC Act, there was a push created for the implement of Electronic Health Records (EHR) among providers. With the HITECH Act comes stronger penalties for neglect, fraud and abuse. Breach notifications are required as well as allowing patients and some third parties to be allowed to access their own personal health information (PHI).

The rapid changes in technology over the past few decades has left the healthcare industry ill-prepared to operate in today’s environment. Most substantial protections of sensitive consumer information has come as a result of federal regulation, most notably in 1996 with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Protection of information in the healthcare industry has lagged behind all other industries, perhaps because the records aren’t financial in nature or sensitive government information. Implementing simple steps for many organizations may be enough to limit the vast majority of breaches, although a layered, comprehensive security approach should be the ultimate goal for companies.