Introduction: 

Data breaches in healthcare is an emerging problem, thus more and more healthcare entities including hospitals, clinics and other establishments are attacked by cybercriminals. Due to the disclosure of personal data that is a patient record, healthcare organizations remain most vulnerable. This information has to be secured in order to continue to build patients’ trust and in order to meet legal requirements. Read the following article to get a clear and step-by-step inventory of how healthcare providers can avoid data breaches.

1. Implement Strong Password Policies

This is in light of the fact that weaker passwords is one of the most widely recognized methods that hackers use to access systems. To ensure the medical data protection, the employees of healthcare centers should be demanded to apply to the definite, lengthy, low-distinct combination of letters and digits mixed with some special symbols. Password change duration should also be standard and using multi-factor authentication (MFA) is also helpful. MFA seeks to allow users to input at least two forms of identification (for example a password and a one-time code the user receives on their phone), making it almost impossible for hackers to gains access to users’ accounts.

2. Encrypt All Sensitive Data

Encryption is therefore the putting of data into a coded form which can only be deciphered by another individual who has the decryption code. Your health data, your medical records, your billing information, or the email you sent to your doctor and everything that goes with it: it should all be encrypted at rest and in transit. Thus, if the data intercepts the hacker, he/she will not be able to interpret the stated data without the key.

3. Train Healthcare Employees

Recent studies have shown that human mistake is among the significant reasons for data breaches in healthcare. A worker might open phishing emails, disclose the password or deal improperly with details that ought to be maintained confidential. It is the responsibility of human resource to conduct trainings from time to time in order to educate all staff regarding risks bas and how to handle patient data. Training should extend over measures to identify phishing scams, use of secure network and handling of sensitive information.

4. Use Secure Networks

Patients’ records are viewed over insecure networks like more facility getting connected over WiFi hotspots are victimized. 

To avert this, all data should be retrieved through secure encrypted networks only. Organization in the healthcare domain should purchase Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that allow an individual to connect securely for the purpose of remote access. Also, firewalls and Intrusion Detection System should be used in order to detect such activities on the networks.

5. Limit Access to Data

The point is that not all staff members of a healthcare organization require open access to patients’ data. Instituting a “least necessary access” keeps the employee exposure to the data relatively small for their position. For example, a receptionist may not require patient’s entire history as a doctor or a nurse may. Restriction minimizes the breach exposure whenever the data is not required to be provided to others.

6. Regularly Update Software

Incorporated software is usually encrypted and has flaws which inadequately exposed hackers. General information technology systems, including EHRs, those utilized in devices, and other systems the healthcare organization employs, should be continually patched with the newest security update. When using old software, there are always missing links in the system security and specialists always find a way to crack it.

7. Perform Regular Security Audits

There is need for constant security audits that should be conducted by the healthcare providers periodically. Security audits are used to evaluate security of all facets of an organization’s technology resources in context to all rules and regulations. These audits will be in a position to detect areas that an organization lacks in security and get the weak areas corrected before being exploitable.

8. Develop an Incident Response Plan

Still, no matter how security conscious we are, breaches are still possible. This means that healthcare organizations are ready to act when there is an incident of breach due to the incident response plan. This plan should point to several requirements in case of breach, for instance on how a breach can be contained, how the extent of the breach can be determined, on how to communicate to affected patients, and lastly, on whether a report needs to be made to the appropriate authorities. Why speedy response can be of much essence in curbing the effects of a breach.

9. Comply with Regulations

In many countries, the healthcare organizations must follow rules protection patient info, for example The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of the United States of America. The governments introduced such regulations to define the approach to the patient data and how they should be protected. They must be complied with because failure to do so attracts fines and legal perceptions. Maintenance checks on compliance can go a long way in making sure all the policies are implemented in the right manner.

10. Use Cloud Services with Care

Cloud based storage has become common in many healthcare organizations, urging convenient of scale up. Still, when not protected, cloud services might also be at risk. This put into consideration some factors that should be observed when using cloud services in hospital include having a cloud provider that adheres to certain security features such as encryption and secure authentications. This is why it also necessary to select a provider who adheres to some healthcare standards such as HIPAA. 

Conclusion:

This article identifies different layers that have to be addressed in order to safeguard against data breaches in the healthcare industry. Measures of preventive security like use of encryption methods, securing networks, training its employees, frequent updating of software etc.; can decrease vulnerability to health care breaches. Also, having an incident response plan for possible breaches means that healthcare providers are ready to mitigate the results. In such field where everyone places their much needed confidence in the professionals and where everyone has the legal right to the privacy of their information, protection of this information should not only be a prerequisite to the law, but to the conscience as well.