Is the connected healthcare industry safe enough?

Brenton Smith, VP & General Manager, Dell Software Group, APJ highlights the risks to data security in healthcare and recommends measures to mitigate them

Today, we function in a highly connected world and there is no vertical that is left untouched by technology. Look at the healthcare sector. Healthcare is a key area where technology can potentially innovate monitoring, diagnostics and delivery of treatment at every step. With increasing Internet of Things (IoT) proliferation, it has become exceptionally easy to remotely monitor a patient’s health with the use of network of sensors, actuators and other internet connected medical equipment. In fact, we will soon have smart beds that will inform other devices about a patient’s movements, or medicine bottles that will alert the patient when a daily dose has been missed.

While we talk about connected medical equipment, another benefit that it offers doctors is allowing them to monitor patient’s vital readings and reports without having to visit him personally, thus giving the patient and his family their own space. Usually we dread staying in the hospital but with such technological developments occurring in the healthcare sector, doctors can stay vigilant of their patient’s developments and also provide the best possible care.

Medical equipment connects to a central station by sending out data using the IP address built into its software, enabling devices to be added on to the hospital network. This essentially means that the hospital has put the device online. By doing so, there are many benefits that can be achieved, such as cutting down the amount of time a duty nurse needs to spend with each patient, to being immediately alerted if a patient requires urgent attention (such as when any administered intravenous fluid is running low, for example).

If handled carefully, connected medical devices are extremely beneficial and safe, however, healthcare professionals are still uncertain of the safety aspect of these devices. Customers across sectors such as education, healthcare, energy, etc. have stated the potential risks that connected infrastructures bring along with benefits, such as a 100 per cent increase in attacks in SCADA Networks. Having said that, there are also solutions available to keep these networks safe thereby ensuring patients’ well-being.

Let’s take an example of diabetic patients. Doctors and nurses continually need to monitor patient’s insulin levels to ensure that they are within the ‘safezone’. Traditionally, teams in medical wards have to manually check the levels with each individual patient, however, with connected equipment, nurses can monitor all patients from afar- confident that the data they are receiving is accurate, allowing them to quickly respond to any alerts that may be raised on their system.

For networks to keep safe from any potential threat, it becomes imperative for companies to work with a trusted security vendor who understands their business completely. There are many security vendors in the market place that offer solutions which can protect individual areas of the network, however, often, these solutions cannot communicate with others deployed across the network, potentially leaving certain areas of the network unprotected.

IT managers need to look at security from a holistic perspective. While looking at deploying solutions to protect the corporate network, it is always advisable to go for a connected security infrastructure as this is where all of the individual security solutions are able to communicate with others which are deployed. When these solutions are allowed to communicate, the IT team can stay assured of network protection from a variety of malicious threats. Next Generation Firewall (NGFW) is a fitting solution for such requirements as it majorly helps in blocking latent threats, ensuring hospital network is safe and patients are well protected too.

Imagine a scenario where hospitals were to implement connected medical devices without deploying proper network safety solutions. Nowadays, it is easy for hackers to attack hospital networks than you and I can imagine. If these cyber-criminals get access to the network, some of the dangerous consequences that can occur are tampering with settings, silence notifications and even switch machines off. Along with this, there also needs to be effective management of privileged access on a remote level. The system needs to ensure that third party engineers managing pieces of equipment (such as MRI scanners) are controlled through the gateway and don’t have access to patients’ files.

For instance, Sakra World Hospitals wanted to deploy a scalable, cost-effective IT platform with built-in data protection to support its state-of-the art facilities and safeguard the data. They decided to deploy an end-to-end IT solution comprising of PowerEdge servers, PowerVault storage, and NetVault Backup software which enabled clinicians at the hospital to work with a comprehensive IT system where they had fast, robust and seamless wired and wireless access to data at all times. The hospital was also able to ensure data safety with quick and reliable daily and weekly backups. In fact, since going live, the hospital has been delivering information-driven healthcare at low cost in a secure environment.

In a sensitive sector such as healthcare, it is highly crucial for each link to be secured against delay, disruption, and data loss. Initially, security was considered as an additional layer of technology but with cyber-crimes getting alarming day by day, it has now become an essential aspect of any technological deployment regardless of the industry.