Threats and Challenges to Security of Electronic Health Records

Abstract

Abstract. Healthcare has always been a sensitive and a complex process. Rapid strides have been made both in the field of information technology as well as health care successfully integrating both for better facilities and services offered by the health-givers. Electronic health records (EHRs) is the product of this integration and forms an integral part of the automated healthcare system. Accessing of EHR by each stakeholder complements the issues of data disclosure, confidentiality, authenticity and privacy that are likely to occur due to many reasons. This paper aims at studying and identifying security threats to EHR in the hospital information system currently prevailing in the hospitals (HIS). It further categorizes the threats based on security characteristics and rates them on the basis of impact and magnitude of loss to the patients. The paper highlights real-time scenarios with each as an important requirement of the health-givers on one hand, can also be a reason of security breaches on other hand. It concludes by listing challenges and recommendations to curb security threats commonly found in the physical setup of healthcare environment.

Classification of Challenges and Threats in Healthcare Cybersecurity: A Systematic Review

“…Some of the unfortunate consequences of breaches to confidentiality are the malicious use of health records and their being sold on the dark web, and the use of data to harm patients [9]. Typographical errors are vulnerabilities that violate integrity, the term refers to incorrect data entry due to the clinical staff's lack of technical skill and is a common threat to the correctness and accuracy of electronic health records (EHRs) [8]. The unavailability of accessing data when needed is a potential concern for healthcare systems as they cannot afford any unavailability whatsoever [9].…”

Factors Associated in the Implementation and Adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHR) in Private Healthcare

“…Our country Malaysia needs many funds available to employ large number of IT professionals to monitor EHR security systems. The increase in hackers and unauthorized access to patient information globally has raised issues all over the world whether or not all EHR systems are safe to use [4][5]. The ability for hackers and thieves to gain access to patient files is a very real issue that affects both developed and developing countries alike.…”

“…Medical errors account for billions of dollars a year to hospitals all over the world as well. These medical errors aren't only the result of poor medical training, but as a result of poor communication caused by faulty systems and processes which cause people to make mistakes and fail to the correct the situation in time [4,9]. The rising costs that these medical errors have caused are the result of many variables.…”

“…The challenges in implementing electronic health records include the risk associated with similar central database systems in which security and privacy is always an issue. Recent breaches in the central databases among large financial institutions has led to further discussion over the level of security required to adequately ensure that personal data remains secure [4,10]. Also, the security of such databases that contain accurate personal data is the target of hackers and fraudsters who attempt to access and steal personal data for impersonation for personal ad financial gain [9,[21][22].…”

Applying CHAID algorithm to investigate critical attributes of secured interoperable health data exchange

“…With simplicity of access comes the challenges of maintaining security, i.e., privacy and confidentiality of EHR (Bhartiya and Mehrotra, 2013a), particularly when data is accessed across different hospitals or clinics. These records contain different sensitivity with respect to disclosure to intended users.…”