The healthcare sector moved from a traditional sector to an innovation-bound one within a year. Yes, the COVID-19 and the urgency to provide everyone with medical care and advice online. Although healthcare was becoming more accessible to everyone, one problem came along.
Security!
With the surge of online appointments, digital prescriptions, and e-medicine delivery applications, one thing is well assured. Several data are moving about the internet cloud space of many healthcare applications.
Software as a healthcare solution is big now, but so are data theft and ransomware threats. In this digital age, every healthcare service provider who provides this software to ease patient’s inconvenience also has another major responsibility.
Taking care and protecting your patient’s valuable medical data. To ensure that amidst their pain caused by whatever ailment, they are also not bombarded with the worst part of the internet. In this excerpt below, we will speak about all the challenges one might face amidst the digitization of the healthcare industry and, most importantly, how to protect your company from it.
Quick Overlook
What Is Healthcare as Healthcare Software Security?
If this is your first time hearing this term, understand it is not that different from software providing a certain digitized solution to any other industry.
Healthcare as a Software (HaaS) is a concept that integrates software solutions into healthcare services and systems to improve efficiency, accessibility, and patient care. It encompasses various digital tools like Electronic Health Records (EHR), telemedicine platforms, health apps, and AI-powered diagnostics.
HaaS aims to streamline administrative tasks, enhance communication between healthcare providers, and empower patients with remote monitoring and self-care options. Digitizing healthcare processes and leveraging data analytics can lead to better decision-making, reduced costs, and more personalized treatments. HaaS represents the intersection of technology and healthcare, driving innovation and transformation in the industry.
Challenges HAAS Is Facing in the Recent Years
Upon introspecting the previously given definition and how HAAS has helped the healthcare industry, it is not uncommon to believe that many are adopting this. However, this also means it is becoming a hub for cybercriminals to claw their way in, steal, and then demand ransomware. Therefore, it is always better to be aware of such threats because they can never rid their software of them if they are not forearmed.
So, without any further ado, let’s get into the threats according to the best healthcare software development – Jelvix, which many face when trying to establish healthcare software security for their patients.
1. Challenges With Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things has become a turning point in digitizing the healthcare industry. The fact that almost everyone has access to the internet has become one of the biggest benefactors to make healthcare accessible for everyone.
However, as quick as these healthcare industry service providers are to introduce Iot to let everyone know the benefits of their digital healthcare tools, the less they pay attention to cybersecurity.
Hackers take advantage of this factor, and every time someone installs this application on their phone without the proper security within the app, it gets easier for cyber criminals to hack in.
Solution
Implementing Blockchain technology for your IOT software is the best way to protect data in healthcare software. A distributed ledger that securely links every piece of information to others. It is impossible to penetrate a Blockchain and steal or tamper with the data. Once the data is in there, it is there for a lifetime.
2. Phishing in Healthcare Software Security
Phishing is a common cybersecurity issue, and the healthcare industry is not the only one facing it. However, this problem is skyrocketing in this industry since distressed patients are becoming the target of many hackers.
Phishing is a type of cybercrime where someone would place a falsified notification over SMS, call, or notification asking for important medical data. They will claim to be from a healthcare service provider that the patient trusts.
Without batting an eye, they provide this information to the hackers. This could be confidential medical data that can be held against the healthcare service provider later. Or, they could be looking for credit card information from which they can get all the money.
Solution
The biggest solution to protect anyone from phishing attacks is education against it. Whenever you encourage anyone to download your healthcare apps or install your healthcare software, let them go through the cybersecurity manual first.
Keep sending your online customers regular notifications, alerting them of phishing notifications. It is important to make them understand what phishing emails look like. How hackers are tricking them, and most importantly, let them know as a healthcare conglomerate, you will never ask for these personal data over these informal platforms.
3. Unauthorized Discoursule
Whenever we think about cybersecurity, our mind easily transfers to hackers. We never consider our employees to be able to disclose any item to a risky party. In some cases, these sudden disclosures can be as dangerous as ransomware.
Two instances often cause these unauthorized disclosure of confidential data:
Employees keep the data unprotected, and their negligence leads to data theft or reaching it in the wrong hands.
Some employees deliberately give certain confidential data to some risky party over the Internet. This could be either for monetary gain or some malicious intent towards someone.
These can also lead to ransomware and other malware attacks on the hospital’s internal data.
Solution
One solution would be to have a no-trust policy in the hospital regarding any data that any employee has under control.
On the other hand, you also need to integrate certain supervision tools with a common source. This will ensure that someone is checking the online activity of every employee and is alerted in case of any breach.
Healthcare Software Security in the Digital Age
Protecting patient data in the digital age requires robust cybersecurity measures, strict access controls, encryption, regular audits, and compliance with healthcare data privacy regulations like HIPAA. Prioritizing data security is vital, as breaches can lead to significant harm and legal consequences.
Alongside nasty ransomware, you might even face a very bad legal issue if you fail to protect a patient’s data.
Immuning yourself from all these threats is important.