ROLE OF NETWORK SECURITY IN HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

Q1. What are the major data security issues found in the healthcare sector?

1. the doctors, nurses and the patients are in use of mobile phones so as to access many health programs and procedures which have become more available to phones. While accessing these services, they pose a serious healthcare data threat as the cyber security hackers may access unsecured mobile devices.
2. -several hospitals have fallen victim of a data security known as Ransom ware  where a software blocks access to a computer and prevents the provider from accessing their important data. This makes it hard for a healthcare to give crucial services to their patients (Abraham, Chatterjee, & Sims, 2019).
3. -there is a threat of lack of education to healthcare data security amongst individuals within the health sector. When the staffs don’t have quality skills on the procedures and steps to protect the data it will be exposed to risk. Every practice should have a set security procedure in place accompanied by in-depth training on how to handle it using the technology based optimized protection.
4. The threat of poor software security measures has also encountered our system exposing them to risks of cyber attackers and hackers. The vendors should implement others measures such as password protection, automatic log-off and even restricted access control apart from the measures of data encryption and automatic back up (Sayer, Bullb, & Elliott, 2018).

Q2. Why is network security important in the healthcare sector?

1. It is important for the healthcare sector to protect the information of their patients since the hackers can access the information and leak it to the black market which can be further used for Medicare fraud and other financial gains.
2. It is important to have network security so as to keep the patients information confidential. This is because when information is leaked the cost of law proceedings could spell might end the healthcare entity (Manogaran, Thota, Lopez, & Sundarasekar, 2017).
3. The internet computer system has helped the healthcare to share information easily with their colleagues, patients, different departments and other authorities without fear since there is network security and the information is confidential.
4. Network security has saved the healthcare sector millions of dollars with the invention of cloud-based and internet computer system technology. This has been brought up by the changes in technology and enabling the doctors to be more competent thereby dealing with more patience in an eight hour shift.
5. Network security has enabled healthcare professionals to work efficiently since the world’s population is increasing rapidly and the patients’ information needs to be stored under safety measures. This is why healthcare sector have adopted the use of cloud-based and internet computer system technology to secure the database from cyber attackers and hackers (Hockey, 2020).

Q3. What are the challenges faced by the healthcare sector due to data theft?

1. Health information exchanges and electronic health records; Health Information Technology and Clinical Health(HITECH) encourages healthcare providers to adopt electronic health records(EHRs) for patients and health information exchange(HIEs) to help doctors share patient data. A network that stores large quantities of medical data shared between multiple providers creates a tempting opportunity for data thieves.
2. Users error in technology adoption; Once data is stored in an unencrypted folders in the cloud or sent via email one, paves a simple pathway for hacker to access your most personal data. Make sure you are following healthcare data security best practices (Choi, Capitan, Krause, & Streeper, 2016).
3. Hackers and the rise of “hacktivism”; Nothing is sacred in the realm of data theft as shown in the Community Health System. Hackers from internet vigilante can hack and access data of a large number of people from either the largest healthcare center of even a small hospital. This shows how vulnerable healthcare data security can be, to a group of determined hackers.
4. The adoption of cloud and mobile technology in healthcare; Healthcare mobile apps are also a growing industry leaving patient data prone to the vulnerabilities of the cloud and individual mobile devices. Hospitals must be vigilant with their security and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies to ensure their use of cloud and mobile tech.
5. Outdated technology in hospitals; End-of-life (EOL) software and infrastructure provides healthcare data security risk as vendors discontinue support for your information technology systems including vital security patches (Kwon & Johnson, 2013).