While many sectors including manufacturing are using AI and modern technologies, many healthcare facilities are still unsure. Mostly because the large data collection makes them easy targets and the past records.
For instance, February of 2020 alone marked 39 data breach cases in healthcare. More than 1531,855 records got exposed.
So the government has strict codes for the healthcare sector. They have to follow it to avoid legal conflicts and ensure users’ security.
Here’s a little detail about the risk this sector faces and the tricks it’s following to prevent the breaches.
Risks
There are multiple risk possibilities in using high-end and automated technologies including cloud storage in healthcare. The most common of them is the data breach risks.
Since the system connects with the internet and uses it to store, manage and access the data, it’s vulnerable to cybercrimes. If anyone gets access to the data, they will have access to every confidential detail of the patients. It can also compromise data about the finances of the firm.
Another risk in this sector is an indirect or direct release of details. While it’s a rare scenario. There are cases where a private organization sold/released their user data.
Cracking Data Privacy Code
The data privacy code states that any personal data that a person including a staff member shares with healthcare is confidential. The healthcare center and anyone connected with it has to ensure its safety.
The following are some tricks and measures that the healthcare sector is currently using for this part.
Secure Access
Every system connected with healthcare needs a proper credential to access the information. Some facilities also use dual check and timed login features for this part. The online database also used firewalls and sometimes data science firms to detect system anomalies.
Encryption
Converting the data into a different form is common for most websites. The healthcare facilities assign a cipher key to every entry and save it as a hex code. This way, even if someone gets the hacks, all they see will be codes. The cipher key further ensures that the methods like brute force or guessing don’t work.
Sophisticated Security Checks
Even with precautions, there are always possibilities of hacks and patches. So, healthcare facilities often interact with data science and automation firms to introduce analytical applications in their system. These systems help use the network data and past data to predict unwanted activities on it. The data is helpful in finding system weaknesses and fixing them.
Controlled Third-Party Access
The healthcare centers get regular visits from a number of people, including general visitors, patients, maintenance workers, and vendors. Many like the maintenance worker may even need to use a computer at the center. So, it’s a common policy to lock the patient information.
Proper Disposal of Devices
The IOT based medical devices store data about their users and sometimes the staff member associated with them. Throwing it without wiping is a big risk, even if it’s broken or non-functional. Mostly, the healthcare centers have specified disposal for them. They are locked out of reach and then destroyed or wiped to extend that no one can recover data from them.
System Misuse
One of the most common causes of data breaches in Healthcare is system misuse. 71.7% times it’s the LAN accessed system that causes the data breach. Training staff members and restricting the use of any external storage device is one way to prevent this issue. Restricting non-trusty websites and monitoring systems is also effective.
Final Words
Data privacy code is essential to ensure that everyone associated with the healthcare sector gets security. The hospitals are taking strict measures to ensure their compliance with these codes. This combined with other technologies like 5G is sure to revolutionize the industry.