Security and Threat Mitigation Techniques in Healthcare Networks

This report discusses the recent developments in healthcare networks, the importance of security, and threat mitigation techniques. It includes a literature review and analysis of the subject, focusing on routers, switches, firewalls, and servers. The report also highlights the issues and threats identified and proposes solutions for security issues.

REPORT

Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Report Outline.............................................................................................................................2
Literature Review............................................................................................................................2
Recent Development in Healthcare Networks.............................................................................3
Importance of Security................................................................................................................4
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................4
Threat Mitigation Techniques..........................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

Introduction
With the growing use of the network technology in healthcare sector, it is noticed that the
industry has been able to grow certain network-based applications in an effective manner.
There are different network scenarios which are making use of the wireless, wired and the
mobile communication techniques. It helps in providing the effective solutions to properly
access the electronic medical records with imaging, and biomedical information and patient
accounting [1]. The healthcare systems then combine the tools to a single network-based
infrastructure which tends to communicate and collaborate with reduced errors and improved
patient car and efficiency.
Report Outline
The report will highlight about the factors related to healthcare network architecture where the
discussion will be based on routers, switches, firewalls and the servers. The development is
based on the healthcare network and the security which is important for it. The sections help in
determining the issues and the threats which are identified through proposing the solutions for
security issue.
Literature Review
The architecture and components of healthcare system needs to focus on centralized resource
distribution system which aims to be implemented at a national level. The architecture is based
on handling the concepts which relates to the Service Oriented Network Architectures. It focus
on how one can work on improving of client levels, server farm levels to design the network
capabilities into an infrastructure [2]. The architecture of healthcare system includes the server
data where the token-based authentication system is needed for implementing the central
security with properly accessing the rights to define the user hierarchy. The need is to setup the
database of information that could lead to accessing or inserting the data as well. The
consideration is about the possibilities which are based on using SUSE Linux Enterprise Service
that uses Crypto Server for proper management. The server structure includes Certificate
authority where the entity manages the digital certificates throughout the domain [3].

The firewalls are important for the healthcare networks as it helps in handling the traffic and
adjusting it in a manner so that it can allow the remote access as per the need. It includes the
mobility and virtualization solutions as well. The organization need to work on focusing over the
host-based firewalls where there are software appliances on the server to control the network
traffic which is coming from a single point. The firewalls can also lead to the problem of
productivity delay and the data is missed by the end-user. The healthcare organizations have
more than computer and smartphones for accessing the data and so the routers and switches
are also important [4]. They are able to manage the wireless infrastructure that helps in
keeping the operating cost down and increases the efficiency. The active data center is based
on handling the internet links, WAN elements and MPLS which are effectively able to provide
the doctors and other employees, complete access from any device.
Recent Development in Healthcare Networks
With the growth of technology, there have been development in healthcare network. Some of
them are:
a. Healthcare Education: Augmented Reality: This technique has been effectively able to
pore over the scans, thereby, trying to make a proper sense with 3D problems on a flat
screens. It takes the data from CT and MRI scans and then transforms the 3D
holographic images so that it is easy to view and interact the tissues of the patient which
are real physical objects. The Medical 3D imaging is not new but there are certain
manipulations which have been done it them [4].
b. Clinical Patient Access Solutions: The healthcare patients are facing the problem of
accessing the results for the scheduled appointments which is mainly due to the
complexities between the health systems or the lack. The focus is on the ability to get
the ability for the appointment, and the platform on the market helps the providers to
work on the high-quality clinic in in a community through use of SMARTWATCH
technology from Referral MD.
c. Human Head Transplants: They are important with the intention that it can work on the
improvement of the system by allowing surgeons to reattach all the nerves and the
blood vessels to the new body [5].

Importance of Security
The security is important for the healthcare network that will help in protecting the patient
information. The argument is about focusing over the cost reduction with satisfying the
information through cyber security services. The hackers have been increasingly seen to be
hijacking the data of the hospitals and the healthcare facilities in the cyber crime and this does
not let one to allow the access of the data till you pay the money. Hence, the third part
stakeholders work on handling the increased risks with operations that are set through
contractual obligations with third parties. The critical factor is to provide the access to share
certain healthcare data [6]. The insecure mobile applications and the emails are another major
reason due to which the healthcare sector has to be secured. The apps and email are
considered to be competitive with changing healthcare industry and they also tend to present
the information security risks. Hence, it is important to focus on protecting the data from
breach of security.
Analysis
Hacking
The hacking is a major issue where the data is being lost and bringing a major harm to the
patients. The medical identity theft can cause the problems like the loss in the insurance
coverage, mixing of the details and the medical harms or the false diagnosis. One the data is
hacked, then the hackers try to generate the cash by selling access to the identity thieves. The
hospitals with the lower levels of security are generally seen to be hacked easily where there
are larger amount of personal data that is changed by hackers [7].
Human Errors Presenting Real Dangers
There are certain unintended disclosure incidents which are considered to be persistent threat
with exposure of organization to greater risks of the regulatory sanctions and the financial
penalties. It is seen that there are unintended disclosures which are easily controlled and
mitigated than the external threats that are underscored. The healthcare organizations need to
be aware of the breach where investigation is about HIPAA compliance that can lead to
corrective plans and settlements. The focus is on handling the agreements with workforce

education and training and updating the policies and procedures with proper risks management
and mitigation plans [7].
Disgruntled Employees
It is seen that the employees are considered to be a major threat to the organization at times,
where the greediness compels them to do this work. The employee gathers the information to
assist the financial crimes like identifying the theft. There are cases where the internal
employees are leaving the company and they make use of the remaining access to steal data,
delete or then steal the software as well. The malicious insider is of the most difficult person to
catch as they know their way around the network and then they also attempt to hide their
tracking systems. The threats are not ignoring the potential for the careless employees where
there is an accidental deletion or the modification of critical information.
Threat Mitigation Techniques
There is a need to focus on the compliance which require new employees to sign the non-
disclosure agreements, thereby, preventing them from any of the intellectual property or the
customer data at the time when employee leaves the company [8]. Apart from this, it is
important to make sure that their responsibility is to keep the data of company completely
confidential. The company needs to be diligent in creating the safeguards and then training of
the employees to prevent the unintended disclosures of any confidential information. The
careless of the employees can only be limited through the training in handling material and
then making use of the monitoring tools. The severity is based on the type of data breach which
can be lessened when the company devices are properly encrypted. Hence, the monitoring
system will make sure by keeping the keys to ensure the compliance and then manage the
employee accounts who have direct access to the sensitive data [9]. The effective monitoring
systems tend to allow the tracking and then logging or setting the records for the account
activities with creating alerts that will allow for a quicker response for any type of the
suspicious activity which has been detected.

Conclusion
It is important for the healthcare network to work on handling the data where the employees
also require focusing on handling the risks of data. It is also important that the employees show
some loyalty to their work. In addition, the analysis and the monitoring of the data is important
for keeping the healthcare network secured.
References
[1.]Zhang, Kuan, Kan Yang, Xiaohui Liang, Zhou Su, Xuemin Shen, and Henry H. Luo. "Security and
privacy for mobile healthcare networks: from a quality of protection perspective." IEEE Wireless
Communications 22, no. 4 (2015): 104-112.
[2.]Mainanwal, Vikash, Mansi Gupta, and Shravan Kumar Upadhayay. "A survey on wireless body
area network: Security technology and its design methodology issue." In Innovations in
information, embedded and communication systems (ICIIECS), 2015 international conference on,
pp. 1-5. IEEE, 2015.
[3.]Al-Janabi, Samaher, Ibrahim Al-Shourbaji, Mohammad Shojafar, and Shahaboddin
Shamshirband. "Survey of main challenges (security and privacy) in wireless body area networks
for healthcare applications." Egyptian Informatics Journal 18, no. 2 (2017): 113-122.
[4.]Darwish, Ashraf, Aboul Ella Hassanien, Mohamed Elhoseny, Arun Kumar Sangaiah, and Khan
Muhammad. "The impact of the hybrid platform of internet of things and cloud computing on
healthcare systems: Opportunities, challenges, and open problems." Journal of Ambient
Intelligence and Humanized Computing (2017): 1-16.
[5.]Gope, Prosanta, and Tzonelih Hwang. "BSN-Care: A secure IoT-based modern healthcare
system using body sensor network." IEEE Sensors Journal 16, no. 5 (2016): 1368-1376.
[6.]Islam, SM Riazul, Daehan Kwak, MD Humaun Kabir, Mahmud Hossain, and Kyung-Sup Kwak.
"The internet of things for health care: a comprehensive survey." IEEE Access 3 (2015): 678-708.
[7.]Manogaran, Gunasekaran, Chandu Thota, Daphne Lopez, and Revathi Sundarasekar. "Big data
security intelligence for healthcare industry 4.0." In Cybersecurity for Industry 4.0, pp. 103-126.
Springer, Cham, 2017.
[8.]Lake, David, Rodolfo Milito, Monique Morrow, and Rajesh Vargheese. "Internet of things:
Architectural framework for ehealth security." J. ICT Stand 1, no. 3 (2014): 301-328.
[9.]Moosavi, Sanaz Rahimi, Tuan Nguyen Gia, Ethiopia Nigussie, Amir M. Rahmani, Seppo Virtanen,
Hannu Tenhunen, and Jouni Isoaho. "End-to-end security scheme for mobility enabled healthcare
Internet of Things." Future Generation Computer Systems 64 (2016): 108-124.