With cyber attacks on healthcare becoming more sophisticated and pervasive, it is increasingly clear healthcare providers have insufficient and outdated approaches to security. Digital security utilized by most healthcare providers functions by protecting against individual and immediate attacks, instead of being a universal, extensive strategy. For healthcare providers, tending to and caring for ill patients is the top priority, so any breach of data or any C-Suite member becoming compromised would result in total calamity for healthcare centers and their patients.

The following are five of the biggest threats facing healthcare cyber security:

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For healthcare organizations, remaining HIPAA compliant can be both necessary and challenging. In the United States, healthcare organizations are required to abide by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. This act provides guidelines pertaining to the handling of patient information across a number of platforms.

In an article by Kristen Lee, titled Q&A: The main reason healthcare organizations violate HIPAA, an interview is conducted with Michael Archuleta, director of IT and HIPAA security officer at Mt. San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad, Colorado. It is within this interview that Archuleta recommends two important items that can ensure HIPAA compliance:

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New technologies in healthcare are being implemented at an increasingly rapid pace, creating game changers in the way medical personnel approach, diagnose and treat life threatening emergencies.

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Long gone are the days when healthcare organizations could not trust cloud security to manage their protected health information. In fact, healthcare organizations are increasing their dependence on cloud technology. What had begun as cloud deployment on back office applications has now expanded into an end-to-end solution that includes analytics and patient facing tools, among many others.

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UCHealth Denver tested the real-time social feed, CareLoop, and its effectiveness with regard to its spread of messages and information. CareLoop is essentially Facebook for patients; it is a medium that facilitates messages from medical professionals, questions from patients, test results, explanations, even providing users with information on possible symptoms and what they should be expecting in terms of certain procedures and medicines. Like most social media sites, CareLoop is a live feed, allowing patients to acquire their information and stay current up to the minute. Physicians and nurses have more opportunities to communicate with their patients without the necessity of a face-to-face visit.

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On December 29, 2016, Department of Defense subcontractor Potomac Healthcare was notified about the jeopardizing of more than 11 gigabytes of private data for healthcare workers employed by the U.S. military's Special Operations Command. The compromised files were discovered by white hat hacker, Chris Vickery, who uncovered a flaw in an unprotected remote synchronization service. Upon his discovery, Vickery notified Potomac Healthcare about the insecurity of its data, which contained information dating back to 1988, and included names, locations, Social Security numbers, salaries and assignment units for psychologists, nurses and other Special Operations Command workers, some of which had top secret clearances.

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Consulting agency, Deloitte, is reporting that the healthcare industry will begin to heavily implement Blockchain technology in 2017. Despite the uneven understanding of Blockchain, its possibilities as a distributed database are garnering popularity and adoption from multiple fields. The technology offers advanced security and data storage, as well as interoperability, which makes it an asset in the healthcare field. Health and life sciences are primed to be the two leading industries in Blockchain deployment going forward this year, with financing, manufacturing, media, and telecom services expected to follow suit.

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The advent of digital technology has provided many benefits to healthcare providers. One particular advancement is the use of big data, or extremely large data sets that can be analyzed to reveal patterns and trends. Utilizing big data can provide healthcare facilities more efficient operations and insight into patients and their health.

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Cyber security has become an important issue for healthcare organizations as attacks on the industry, and in particular on private patient information, have grown more prevalent. A timely opportunity to learn more about the current state of healthcare cyber security, as well as many other pertinent issues in healthcare, is coming soon. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is hosting their 2017 Conference and Exhibition from February 19th to the 23rd at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

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