Strengthening Healthcare Data Security with Cloud Environments

It’s no secret that since March 2020, healthcare organizations have had to pivot organizational strategies to deal with the impact of COVID-19. In 2021, the Health Service Executive of Ireland was impacted by a major ransomware incident, which shut down all its IT systems nationwide. Several hospitals could not access electronic systems and records of patient data until a full recovery was made 4 months later. (If you want to read more on this ransomware incident after this article, tab out our blog from November here). Malicious actors know that healthcare organizations have unencrypted legacy systems that are running critical applications for the business. Today, let’s explore the benefits when your healthcare organization utilizes cloud security for protection.

Protecting Patient Confidentiality and Privacy while Maintaining Compliance with Regulations

In 2022, a study conducted by the HIPAA Journal found that an average of 1.94 healthcare data breaches of 500 or more records were reported each day. Patient records are filled with sensitive data and malicious attackers specifically target healthcare organizations because historically, they have the least sophisticated infrastructure to be able to adequately deal with an attack. An additional HIPAA Journal report shows that 95% of the US population had their medical information disclosed between 2009 and 2021. Under HIPAA, hospitals and healthcare systems are required to protect patient data or be subject to fines. Malicious actors with your illegally obtained data in their hands can commit identity theft,

How migrating to the cloud can help strengthen healthcare data security

By utilizing a hybrid cloud environment, organizations can encrypt sensitive data through cloud encryption. Cloud encryption transforms information to an unreadable format before it then sent off to the cloud storage. Organizations can then take the additional step and work with a managed service provider like Dataprise, to store this encrypted data in a cloud repository that is not accessible from the customer’s network. If you want to learn more about Dataprise’s enhanced data protection methodology, check out our datasheet here.

When the data is recovered from the backup, it returns unencrypted and ready. By following these steps, if your healthcare organization experiences a security breach, a safe copy of the encrypted data is stored away from your network, which malicious actors would not be able to access.

Improved Security, Enhanced Trust, and Peace of Mind

The HIPAA Journal surveyed over 380 healthcare IT professionals from 31 countries and found that of the surveyed, 66%  said they experience a ransomware attack in 2021. That number is up from 34% in 2020, which was the highest increase across all industry sectors. Improving security and resilience to these attacks is the #1 priority for IT leaders in healthcare.

Let’s tackle this example together: you just moved to a new city and are looking for a best-in-class provider. You narrow your search down to 2 practices.

Which practice would you choose?

How migrating to the cloud can help healthcare organizations

Cloud environments offer healthcare organizations improved security by implementing a combination of technologies such as firewalls, intrusion detection, prevention systems, and more which leads to network segmentation. This segmentation is an additional layer, to slow down a potential incident, as access to data, files, and information is decided user by user, as explored in our previous blog article.

Data security is increasingly becoming a deciding factor when people are sourcing new businesses to work with. Prospects want to work with a best-in-class provider that also establishes trust between its userbase in that individual’s sensitive data will remain confidential and safe. Dataprise specializes in assisting healthcare institutions to remain HIPAA compliant, secure sensitive data, and protect against all external threats. Our experts have compiled a guidebook on the ultimate guide to IT outsourcing so your internal stakeholders can examine where you are currently, and where you would like to be.