Introduction
For any organization’s system to be secure, the company should be able to identify and prevent all risks. Such threats may be cloud and phishing attacks, insider and hacking menaces, among others (Esposito et al., 2018). Risk identification and assessment is a process of detecting, studying, estimating, treating, and monitoring hazards that may attack an organization’s system to prevent damages and harm from such perils. This article will discuss ways in which the healthcare organization will ensure the safety of data and information of patients and employees and how to avoid future attacks.
Risk Assessment
Risk assessment entails identifying possible threats and scrutinizing the results in case a threat arises. The manager will have to identify the hazards, which might attack the healthcare, such as system hacking, malware attacks, etc. The risk assessment process ensures that employees and customers’ data is secure from malware (Kweon et al., 2021). The manager will use the following steps for total assurance of threat identification and prevention. The first step is identifying the hazard, where the manager will research and detect which risks are most likely to attack the system, for example, hacking. Recognizing the victim is another step that involves identifying the person targeted by threats, and in this case, the patients and employees are the most aims. The customers’ records kept in the systems might be interfered with and lost.
Evaluate the risk, take precautions whereby the manager should estimate the hazards, and beware that the systems are unsafe without being secured. The final step in risk assessment is recording the results, and the director should write down all the results obtained from the whole process for future reference (Esposito et al., 2018). The manager will record the main possible hazards and how the risks can be prevented. The administrator may use risk assessment tools such as billing, patient delays, job duplication safety, and quality concerns, among many others. The tools help to reduce attacks by recognizing exposures in the healthcare institution’s cybersecurity architecture. A successful threat assessment process reduces the probability of potential attacks and avoids legal liability.
Information Security Policy
An information security policy is a set of regulations, policy proposals, and procedures that ensure all-end-users as well as systems in an organization meet the bare minimum of IT security and data protection. Information security policies in healthcare organizations will secure data, systems, devices, infrastructure, data, and all users (Kweon et al., 2021). The manager will use different information security policies to ensure the safety of customers’ health records. Information security policies play essential roles in a healthcare organization, including the facilitation of data integrity, availability, and confidentiality, whereby rules and processes are regulated to protect vendors from threatening data confidentiality and integrity.
Policies governing information security ensure consistent procedures and standards that safeguard integrity of the information, ease of access, and personal privacy. Additionally, the guidelines protect delicate data and minimize the risk of insecurities through the definition of procedures that identify and mitigate vulnerabilities (Wager et al., 2021). Information security policies also provide an outline for operationalizing procedures in a healthcare institution. The manager should ensure proper data and information classification to avoid systems from being open to hackers. When adequate information security policies are applied, fewer or no attacks will be made on the structures; hence, no data will be lost.
Program Structure and Management Support
Information security management refers to the process where technology experts oversee and control all aspects of computer threats and vulnerabilities in an organization. The manager will be responsible for planning and carrying out security measures that will protect healthcare data and information from attacks, theft, and unauthorized access (Kweon et al., 2021). Management of information safekeeping entails of three main objectives. Confidentiality of data and information means guaranteeing that only approved individuals have permission to access or adjust the records. Data is categorized based on the alleged danger and projected effect in security management. Integrity is another objective where data security administration deals with data honesty by applying methods that safeguard the reliability and accurateness of stored digital material during the information life sequence.
The manager will ensure that data is secure by properly being stored and cannot be changed or erased without the proper authorization. Data integrity is also improved by applying procedures such as user access, version controls, and check-sums (Esposito et al., 2018). The last main objective is data availability, whereby the information security management implements processes and measures that ensure essential data is always available to legal operators when in need. Activities such as hardware upkeep, installation of patches and upgrading, instigating event response, and calamity retrieval procedures to avoid loss of information whenever an incident such as cyber-attack occurs.
The primary purpose of an information security program is to develop, implement and achieve a safety package that attains the actual outcome of security domination. The results include tactical arrangements with corporate administrations to support structural strategies and improve safety investments for the quality distribution of resources (Kweon et al., 2021). Information security structure leads to the execution of risk management measures to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of dangerous data and networks. Information security program structure helps the IT manager develop a safety plan to excellently and professionally manage weighty substructure possessions excellently and professionally. Another result is investigating and reporting on information security processes to ensure purposes are accomplished and procedures function as required.
Trustworthy Human Resources
Human resources refer to an organization’s department responsible for all activities in the institution. In a healthcare organization, the human resource should be trusted, and nobody is supposed to disclose any data stored in the organization’s system or cloud (Wager et al., 2021). Healthcare human resources must be able to keep secrets about personal information shared by patients and employees. The manager will ensure that the human resources make sure that proper and sufficient services are provided to the employees and customers.
Human resources should always hire qualified employees who can work in different healthcare sectors without corruption. The administrator will develop a program in which only human resources will be allowed access, and strong passwords will be created to avoid necessary hacking, improving data and information security and safety (Kweon et al., 2021). Once the human resources cannot be trusted, the department can share passwords with illegal system users, resulting in hacking and exposing data and information to other people. The manager will educate the human resources on the importance of not sharing passwords with unauthorized people.
Asset Management
Asset management is a system that helps organizations to keep records of their institution’s assets. Healthcare assets include medicine and injectors, among others. The manager with design a program that will show the overall daily stock available of assets after opening work and after the end of the business. When an employee uses a particular investment, the system automatically detects and deducts the available stock (Esposito et al., 2018). This will help reduce asset theft, giving the CEO and the employees an easy time determining what needs to be supplied and when. The manager will use four stages for a successful organization of properties. The first phase is planning, whereby asset requirements are recognized and confirmed. The acquisition step depends on the cost of the asset and whether the stuff will be purchased or built in the healthcare. The people using the investment should be keen on the operation and maintenance stage. The last stage is disposal, in which the asset should be disposed of well when no longer needed by the healthcare organization.
For successful asset management, the manager must first identify and group the properties according to the manufacturer, supplier, price, and many more: then choose asset tag and barcode to avoid environmental hazards. Reliable healthcare asset management tools make the systems available to all appropriate revelries and ensure strict observance of these measures (Esposito et al., 2018). Asset management ensures that a healthcare organization continues growing and expanding with the correct use of assets. The manager will convince the CEO of the importance of system-generated management of assets.
Access Control
This is the process whereby an organization determines who is responsible for accessing confidential data and information. In this case, the manager is accountable for all systems with customers and employees’ data. Access control helps to prevent intrusion into the systems from unauthorized persons (Wager et al., 2021). Access control is associated with issues that can be easy to implement and use, while others may be difficult to manage. Such problems may include data encryption failures, poor password management whereby strong passwords should be used, and a lack of appropriate staff education on malware. In this regard, the manager is responsible for ensuring the system’s safety and security. Thus, they will guarantee good role-based access management to avoid problems such as the high probability of user errors, confusion between users and admins, and fraud commission due to unauthorized access, among others.
The manager will follow several steps for a better access control process. The first step is Authorization, where the boss will use a cloud-based dashboard to ensure that all data and user authorizations are kept and managed securely in the cloud. The next step is authentication, whereby if any person tries to log in to the system, the system will detect whether this individual is allowed access (Kweon et al., 2021). If the human is permitted, the system will ask for the password, and if not allowed, the system will remain closed. The next step is access to the data, and at this phase, after authentication in the cloud, the system will automatically allow the authorized person to input the password and continue with data and information viewing. The last step is management and auditing, and in this stage, the administrators will be provided with an interface to track and unlock customers’ data and information.
Cryptography
Cryptography is a section in computer science used to protect digital data by converting the information into a language that illegal users cannot understand. In healthcare, cryptography helps in protecting clients’ sensitive as well as personal data from hackers. Coding also guards information when manipulators have to utilize various kinds of devices (Esposito et al., 2018). The healthcare manager will develop a coded system that will store confidential information about patients, such as types of sicknesses, continued therapy clinics, or even repeated issuance of medicines. This will ensure that the patients will not need to explain their reasons for attending the clinic each time, but the system will indicate. Coded systems will only allow permitted persons to access and detect the illegal users as invaders. Any digital data contained in a database must be protected from unlawful users.
Cryptography involves encryption, a technique used to encode information or messages that only approved people are allowed access. The two types of encryptions used are symmetric and asymmetric encodings. In symmetric coding, the encryption and decryption keys are the same, and the communicating parties use the same key for safe communication (Esposito et al., 2018). The asymmetric encoding uses two different keys public and a private key. A private key is used only by one person for encryption, while many share the public key for decryption. The manager, in this case, will ensure that all customer’s essential data and information is protected through coding.
Physical & Environmental Security
Physical and environmental security programs consist of different procedures or controls that defend an organization from loss of connectivity and accessibility of computer processing. The loss may result from stealing, fire, downpour, planned ruin, accidental harm, mechanical equipment, and power failures (Kweon et al., 2021). Physical security procedures should be enough to deal with predictable and possible threats and should be tested occasionally for efficiency and proper functioning. The manager will insist on the importance of using locks and alarms to prevent illegal people from entering the healthcare and accessing secretive data. Environmental controls are mechanisms used to protect an organization’s information and properties from ecological effects. The agents help to prevent the loss of important information or data.
The manager will determine the employees accountable for preparing and funding the physical security of the healthcare. The boss will evaluate best practices and ideals used to assess physical security controls. The boss will finally form a team of physical and environmental security inspectors not within the healthcare staff members. The crew will occasionally evaluate the efficiency of the measures taken and provide feedback on the usefulness and functionality of the actions in physical and environmental security (Esposito et al., 2018). The manager will ensure that IT equipment such as computers gets proper storage and correct disposal if not in use. Data and information kept in equipment being disposed of, exchanged, or sold must be removed safely and deleted to avoid leaking the information to unlicensed parties. The manager ought to educate employees on different techniques used to improve environmental and physical security.
Operations Security
Operational security is a safety and peril management method that stops delicate data from being stolen by hackers or unauthorized people. Operations security is mandatory and advisable to be used by any organization that deals with data and information storage (Esposito et al., 2018). The healthcare organization manager will follow the steps below for successful operations security. The first step is to identify critical information, and in this phase, the manager will determine what data would be most dangerous if an attacker interferes with the information. In this case, the customers’ health records and employees’ identification information would be most harmful if stolen. Analyzing threats is another crucial step in any organization at risk of attacks. The manager will identify which threat is most likely to attack the system. The manager will help the healthcare to detect and prevent any hackers and competitors aiming at attacking the system.
The next stage is to analyze vulnerabilities, whereby vulnerability is the state of being at risk of attack or damage to a system by hackers or competitors. Here the manager will inspect possible weaknesses among the protections available to safeguard critical information and note the weak data. Assessing risks is another phase where the manager will determine the level at which the threat is related to each vulnerability. Most institutions classify hazards using factors such as the probability of an attack occurring and the damage which will be caused. If the risk is high, the company will need to familiarize itself with menace management. The final step is using appropriate countermeasures, which entails the deployment of a security plan that will reduce the threats (Kweon et al., 2021). The manager will start with threats that are risky to the healthcare organization. Security advancements include providing extra hardware and training and developing new information domination.
Communications Security
Communications security is a discipline that ensures the safety of the information that is transmitted, transferred, or communicated. Comsec plays a role in preventing illegal interceptors from retrieving broadcastings in an understandable form while still distributing content to the projected receivers (Esposito et al., 2018). Communication security also ensures the safety of communications, privacy, and honesty. Some possible intimidations in communications security include malware, denial of services, and distributed denial of services, viruses, worms, and ransomware. The healthcare organization’s manager will consider different communication security types to successfully protect customers’ health records and employees’ information.
The first type of communications security is cryptosecurity, where the data is encrypted and converted to unreadable until decryption occurs. Another type is emission security, which stops the release of emanations from cryptographic equipment, leading to illegal interruption (Kweon et al., 2021). The physical protection safeguards the security of cryptographic documents, information, and hardware and avoids illegal access. On a computer system, traffic flow security conceals information or notifications as well as marketing content. Data transfer security secures transmissions against unauthorized access, preventing disruption and malfunction. After considering each security type above, the manager will be assured of the security and safety of customers’ health records and employees’ information, such as login and log out time.
Systems and Applications Acquisition & Development
System and application acquisition and development involves identifying, analyzing, and specifying information security necessities. Four methods of acquiring a system include new data collection, converting, sharing, and purchasing (Kweon et al., 2021). The manager will consider the following aspects when deciding on the type of acquisition and development method. The first thing is the purpose of the data by the healthcare organization. This will be followed by data standards such as government or industry, rules in the organization, accuracy requirements such as spatial data locational accurateness, and cost and time when the data is needed.
In most cases, buying data is cheaper than all the other acquiring methods. Although developing a system is considered expensive in terms of time, consumption, and money, sometimes this is better than buying or leasing, especially for organizations that need the procedures for a lifetime (Wager et al., 2021). The manager will, in this case, personally develop and system that will be used for storing patients’ data and information. The system will be updated by the manager any time such updates are needed. This will help avoid buying or leasing data that will need updates from the source.
Supplier Relationships
The relations between the CEO, the employees, and the supplier of healthcare products such as medicine, surgical gloves, electronic equipment, and many others should be perfect. The manager’s responsibility is to ensure that name of the supplier, date of supply, products provided, and the number of items supplied are kept in a safe system from hackers (Kweon et al., 2021). The manager will code a program that automatically monitors products’ usage. The database will automatically show the employees the amount of stock left in case the doctor wants to issue medicine to the patient. If a few pieces of stuff remain and need to be provided, the system will automatically send a message to the supplier on time requesting the number of required products. It will also enquire about the day and time the items should be received without human involvement.
The system will only be secure by using strong passwords, avoiding sharing passwords with many people, and constantly logging out after use. This will ensure no complaints or disagreements between the CEO and the supplier about the number of items provided during payments (Wager et al., 2021). Good vendor and CEO relations will improve the retailer’s comfort and trust in the healthcare organization. This will reduce costs and time wasted searching and hiring new providers because the current vendors will be retained for a long time. The supplier must ensure that delivery of the items needed is done at the right time to avoid inconveniences being caused to patients, such as failure to get proper medication.
Incident Response
Incident response refers to a set of information security policies used to recognize, comprehend and do away with cybercrimes and attacks. The administrator will apply an incident response plan immediately after learning of any possible data breach occurrence (Kweon et al., 2021). The breach should be eradicated to avoid future attacks. The manager will devise a plan to address a suspected data breach using the steps below. The first step is preparation, and this phase needs total concentration in incident response planning and is critical to an organization’s data and information protection.
The manager will ensure that they are trained about roles and responsibilities for incident response. The manager will also ensure that training, hardware, and software are backed up early. Detection is an important step, and this is the process that determines whether a person has been ruptured by looking for deviations from normal operations and activities (Wager et al., 2021). The manager will know whether the healthcare has been breathed through anti-virus scan malware alerts, system anomalies, and review of interference discovery system logs. Containing the issue is another phase whereby, after the manager gets enough knowledge of any possible breach, the problems will quickly be fixed instantly. The manager is supposed to be keen while repairing the breach to avoid destroying forensic vital data and information. The manager will use the forensic data to determine when and how the breach occurred and develop ways to prevent future attacks.
After breach recognition and fixing, the manager should not re-install the system immediately. The director will find and adjust strategies, measures, and skills that led to the breach. The boss will abolish the malware securely, repair the systems thoroughly and keep strong passwords used (Kweon et al., 2021). Recovery is the next step, and this is the process of restoring the affected systems and devices to the computer. After the breach identification and eradication, the manager will test all scenarios before re-installation. After the forensic investigation reviewing is the final stage whereby the manager will meet with the CEO and employees, discuss the lessons learned from the whole process, and evaluate the events in future attack preparations. In this stage, the manager will study the incident response plan by defining what succeeded and did not.
Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery
Business continuity refers to particular strategies, processes, as well as infrastructure that enable a health care institution to retrieve critical services and tasks in the occasion that operations of the business are disrupted. Contingency planning is concerned with restoring information exchange and IT framework following a disaster (Wager et al., 2021). The manager will design a system that will automatically inform the employees which task was performed before the attack. The manager will come up with a plan that will automatically recover services that might be interfered with by abnormal activity that may take place in the institution. Business continuity ensures that the healthcare organization will remain functional despite disruption.
The manager will come up with backup means such as storing data and information of customers and employees in google or hard disks. The manager will teach the CEO and fellow employees about the importance of business continuity and disaster recovery, whether data and information are destroyed or not (Kweon et al., 2021). The manager will use two plans for successful business continuity and disaster recovery. The first plan is a mission-critical application and data plan whereby a type of data called mission-critical data is functional and relevant to healthcare’s functioning.
The boss will ensure that this data is restored to prevent the probability of the organization’s everyday activities not resuming. During the data recovery process, mission-critical data should be prioritized. The second plan is a data backup plan that dictates the data to be backed up, frequency of backup, and storage duration in the system (Wager et al., 2021). The healthcare organization will continue to operate and maintain a good relationship between the patients, CEO, and other employees leading to advanced service provision.
Maintenance & Compliance
Maintenance in the security structure comprises continuous checks of all the fundamentals that compose of the installation process, such as detectors, computers, cameras, circuits, and lighting systems, to ensure proper functionality. Maintenance of information system consists of system updates and patches, duplicate file elimination, anti-virus installation, examination, and maintenance of downloaded software packages (Kweon et al., 2021). The manager will ensure that installed software backup is done frequently to avoid hacking from competitors. Security compliance in a healthcare organization will build enough patients’ trust in the doctors. The manager will code a program to store all the types and numbers of assets in healthcare. This will help during maintenance because the upkeep team will be aware of what needs to be maintained. System Safety obedience plays an essential role between the doctors and patients in a healthcare institute. Submission helps an organization avoid penalties and fines that may result from violating regulatory standards.
An example of healthcare compliance in the USA is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This act intends to regulate how the healthcare industry handles and maintains personal and medical patient records (Wager et al., 2021). Compliance in a healthcare organization maintains trust between doctors and patients by ensuring that the health records are safe and secure. Security acquiescence also improves data management through updating and upgrading systems frequently. The manager will ensure that hardware and software materials for storing patients’ data and information get necessary maintenance and backup to avoid losing essential resources. Supervision and compliance of information systems are required because when companies adhere and do what is needed, extra costs like paying fines and occasional purchase of new assets will be reduced.
Conclusion
In conclusion, information security policies play a critical role in a healthcare organization by ensuring that confidential data and information are secure. The doctors will be sure of the patients’ data security using the systems. In this case, the healthcare manager will code programs that only allow authorized persons to access the data and information. This means that customers’ health records will be secure and confidential and can be backed up anytime. Records of employees and all activities in the organization also need to be secured. The relationship between patients, employees, suppliers, and the boss should always be perfect to increase the growth of healthcare.
References
Esposito, C., De Santis, A., Tortora, G., Chang, H., & Choo, K. K. R. (2018). Blockchain: A panacea for healthcare cloud-based data security and privacy?. IEEE Cloud Computing, 5(1), 31-37. Web.
Kweon, E., Lee, H., Chai, S., & Yoo, K. (2021). The utility of information security training and education on cybersecurity incidents: An empirical evidence. Information Systems Frontiers, 23(2), 361-373. Web.
Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., & Glaser, J. P. (2021). Health care information systems: a practical approach for health care management. John Wiley & Sons.