The health sector has seen consistent growth in the last few years. Backed by technology, the focus of providers and administrators has been on offering the best services and care to the patients and their families. Digitalization in this field has given rise to the number of digital records being maintained by the various health institutes. The patient records vary from prescriptions to lab reports and illness history to financial details. Data and healthcare have synced together to improve the workflow efficiency across the sector. But large data pools and increased accessibility have also brought in cyber risks that were never seen before in this sector.

Data platforms are hot targets for cybercriminals due to the sensitivity of the data, so this puts patients’ privacy and the financial and reputational image of the organization at stake. Basic cybersecurity measures like setting strong passwords, using firewalls, etc. are important, but what are the factors beyond these that are often overlooked by the users? Let’s discuss this in detail and find out answers to some of the most intriguing questions in this regard.

Underestimating phishing and browser threats

The healthcare data platforms are usually accessed through web browsers and smartphone apps. This access gives the hackers an easy entry point to break into the data platforms. This is why it is common to see healthcare users becoming frequent targets of phishing attacks. The modus operandi here remains the same as in other sectors – legit-looking emails, messages and fake login pages are created to trick the users into clicking on the malicious links.

Looking at how sensitive medical records are, browser-specific threats should be taken seriously by the cybersecurity teams. If you come across a user asking, ‘Why does my Google search go to Yahoo?’ consider it a clear indication of a browser hijacking attempt. The answer to why does Yahoo keep opening in Chrome is that it has been infected with a Yahoo virus. 

Knowing how to remove Yahoo from Chrome is important to remove malicious extensions or unwanted software that was downloaded by the user. The Yahoo search redirect virus is capable of tracking browser activity and stealing login credentials, and once it happens, the medical information will be breached. Training the staff on identifying malicious links, keeping browsers clean, using only verified extensions and not downloading spammy files of any types from an unknown source is the key to ensuring data safety when accessing a data platform through a browser.

Overlooking the sensitivity of metadata

When users are not trained enough to understand the importance of metadata, their focus remains on what they see in reality. This means their attention is majorly on visible medical records like doctor prescriptions or insurance coverage files and almost none on metadata.

Factors like login details (time and user IDs), browsing patterns, device information, and interaction logs are often ignored. This metadata is within the platform, but since it is not given importance, the vulnerability increases. Let’s understand this with an example. Suppose a patient is logging into a health specialty’s section regularly.

The metadata indirectly reveals his ongoing treatment or the medical condition. True healthcare data protection encompasses security across data layers, not just of what’s visible on the surface. Indirect data should be treated as important as direct data.

Ignoring third-party integrations

There are numerous third parties that work in sync with the data platforms. Regular data transfer and access is a common feature here. A high number of technology devices, like wearable devices (for example, glucose monitors, telehealth apps), pharmacy systems, insurance providers, external medical lab systems, etc. These external parties and systems, when integrated with data platforms, enhance the functionality of the overall process but also work as access points to sensitive medical data. Most of the users allow access through permissions to access the data without a clear review of the data sharing policy.

Knowing what to allow and where to set limits on the permissions of an external service is important. Using reputed and verified parties for integrating or syncing the data platform with others is crucial.

For example, Ampliz provides trusted healthcare intelligence services that have large-size physician and hospital datasets that businesses use for growing their operations. Partnering with such services is considered to be safe because of the high-level data privacy assurance and minimum-possible integrations they need.

Permission management for shared access

Medical records are shared with multiple parties ranging from caregivers to family members and healthcare providers to insurance companies. It is necessary to do so because of the nature of service, but the problem lies in poor access management. Broad permissions to everyone involved without considering the fact that not everyone requires every access is a big mistake.

Sometimes the accesses remain open even after a case closure, or the users share it further with sub-users. At every point in this chain, there’s an increase in vulnerability level. This is why restricted or role-specific access to the data should not be overlooked. Unintended or unrequired data sharing leads to a higher risk of breaches.

Overlooking data backup and recovery risks

For safeguarding the data and ensuring access in every situation, backups play a big role. But these backups need as much safeguarding as the main data source. Backups might not be automatically encrypted or might not have the same access permissions as set in the main data platform. This makes backups an easy target for the hackers.

Besides, awareness of how to retrieve the backed-up data when needed (in case of account failure or primary data access issues) is equally important. Proper training in this regard, following encryption practices and clearly laid-out procedures for recovery are important to maintain the long-term availability and safety of the healthcare data.

Using public or shared devices

Once medical data is uploaded and made available to the users, it is common for them to access it without a second thought, whether they are using a public wifi or a hotspot. It is accessed from offices, cyber cafes, restaurants, airports, etc., which puts data safety at risk.

Key risks include:

  • Saved login details in browsers
  • Browser or session hijacking through unsecured networks
  • Unauthorized screenshots or downloads in the form of PDFs, etc.
  • Cached data
  • Malware or keylogger injection

Whenever a sensitive medical record is accessed, it’s important to ensure that the devices being used are totally secure, and after the use, a complete logout must be ensured.

Ignoring activity logs

Healthcare platforms keep track of every activity performed on them. Logins, data section access, profile changes, files downloaded, etc. are all stored as log information on these tools. These are important indications of a possible hacking or data theft attempt, but sadly, these activity monitoring logs are ignored by the users.

Even a small technical hint from these logs can give information about a possible breach that might turn out to be significant if not addressed. For optimum security, these audit logs must be made a part of regular security checks.

Outdated information and security settings

Healthcare data security is about small steps too that hold the power to stop a major data breach event. Many users leave the account details as they were set during the first login. These details have not been changed for a long time, while the phone numbers and email address associated with that account most probably have. When a recovery attempt to regain the lost access to the medical data account is made, it might fail as the registered phone number and email address might no longer be valid.

The same goes for security settings. Once set in the beginning, they are rarely checked back again by the users. Online threats keep evolving so changes in basic configurations and updates are important. Static settings do not provide the level of protection that regular updates do.

Overlooking data retention and deletion policies

Deleting data from a healthcare platform wipes it off from the surface and it becomes invisible to you. But in reality, it’s been removed only from the system, not from the servers. For various legal and operational purposes, the data is never completely removed from every system.

Review policies often state it clearly but the users often ignore them while signing up. The knowledge on how data is stored despite a user deleting it and in what situation it is completely wiped out goes a long way in the responsible management of medical records.

Ensuring safety on healthcare data platforms

Data safety on healthcare platforms involves proactive steps like following best practices in cybersecurity and regularly updating information about how these platforms work. This is what the users can do to ensure maximum safety on healthcare data platforms:

  • Use strong passwords – Use a password manager and always set unique passwords that mix up special characters, numbers and alphabets nicely.
  • Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) – Basic logins do not guarantee 100% security so using MFA is a must.
  • Review permissions regularly – Carefully check the access given by you to different people, apps, third-party tools, etc. Remove anything that looks suspicious or unnecessary.
  • Monitor activity logs – Review login history and account activity from the data platform to detect any unusual login or access pattern early.
  • Avoid public or unsecured networks – Whenever possible, access the data through a trusted connection or a VPN.
  • Update the software, apps and browsers – Regularly updates these because that will provide critical security patches.
  • Stay alert to phishing attempts – Malware is a real threat. Verify links before clicking and never download from an untrusted resource.

Conclusion

Every user expects unparalleled convenience from the healthcare data platform they use. But moments of nervousness, hastiness, or unawareness can easily lead to a data breach. To avoid safety risks, use the data platform responsibly and keep yourself updated, for which you can follow the steps mentioned above.

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