Healthcare Data Security: What It Is, Benefits and Main Challenges

The digitalization of healthcare organizations has revolutionized the way patient data is collected, stored, and managed. However, it also introduces many challenges, especially related to data security. As cyberattacks grow more sophisticated, often resulting in expensive data breaches, the importance of data security for healthcare organizations has never been more critical.

This article provides an overview of health data security and its importance, highlighting key challenges, mandatory regulation requirements, and best practices for protecting your healthcare organization from evolving cyber threats.

What is healthcare data security?

Healthcare data security aims to protect sensitive patient information and related data from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. It combines different practices and technologies to secure electronic health records (EHRs), medical histories, and other sensitive information stored within healthcare systems.

Why is healthcare data security so important?

Data security in healthcare is critical due to the sensitive nature of the information involved and the harsh consequences of its exposure. According to the 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report by IBM Security, healthcare organizations have had the highest average cost of a data breach for the 14th year in a row at $9.77 million. According to HIPAA, the number of reported healthcare data breaches in the US increased from 200 to 725 incidents between 2011 and 2023.

The following real-world examples further highlight the necessity of implementing strong data security measures for healthcare organizations. 

Case #1: Change Healthcare ransomware attack (2024)

Case #2: Atrium Health phishing attack (2024)

Case #3: MedStar Health data breach (2024)

These incidents are just the tip of the iceberg, as healthcare organizations around the world suffer from data breaches daily. The consequences of these breaches are far-reaching. For affected individuals, compromised personal and medical information can lead to identity theft and fraud. Healthcare organizations, in turn, can face significant financial losses due to costs associated with breach mitigation, legal penalties, and regulatory fines.

Regulatory compliance in healthcare

Given the sensitive nature of healthcare data and the serious consequences of breaches, regulatory bodies across the globe have established strict guidelines that organizations must follow to safeguard Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Compliance with these regulations can help healthcare organizations protect patient data, avoid legal consequences, and ensure the continuity of healthcare services.

Here are the key data privacy laws and regulations governing healthcare data security across different regions:

1. HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) — US

HIPAA is the cornerstone of healthcare data protection in the United States. It applies to healthcare providers, insurance companies, and any entity involved in the handling of PHI. HIPAA has several critical rules organizations need to follow:

• Privacy — protects patient health information, ensuring that PHI is not disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.
• Security — sets standards for safeguarding electronic PHI (ePHI), requiring measures like encryption, regular audits, and access control. 
• Breach notification — requires entities to notify affected individuals and government bodies of data breaches involving PHI.

Non-compliance with HIPAA can result in penalties ranging from $100 to $50,000 per violation, with a maximum annual penalty of $1.5 million.

2. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) – European Union

The GDPR is one of the most strict data protection regulations worldwide, applicable to all organizations that process the personal data of EU citizens, including healthcare providers. It emphasizes the importance of data privacy and its key elements include:

• Consent – patients must give explicit consent for their health data to be processed.
• Data subject rights – patients have the right to access, correct, and delete their data.
• Data breach notification – healthcare organizations must notify the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours of discovering a breach.

Non-compliance with GDPR can result in fines of up to €20 million or 4% of the organization’s global annual turnover, whichever is higher.

3. PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) – Canada

PIPEDA governs how private sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information in the course of commercial activities, including healthcare services. Key requirements include:

• Accountability – organizations must appoint a person responsible for ensuring compliance with PIPEDA.
• Consent is required for the collection and use of personal health information.
• Strong security measures must be in place to protect health data from unauthorized access and breaches.

Under PIPEDA, organizations must report data breaches that pose a real risk of significant harm to affected individuals. Penalties for non-compliance can reach up to $100,000 per violation.

Some organizations may also need to comply with CPPA (Consumer Privacy Protection Act), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), HITECH Act (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act), and other standards, laws, and regulations depending on the region they operate in. 

Compliance with security regulations is critical for protecting sensitive patient information and avoiding costly penalties. However, healthcare organizations can face some challenges in their efforts to achieve compliance and safeguard sensitive patient information.

Challenges in protecting healthcare data

Here are the main challenges healthcare organizations may face when building a data security strategy.

The complexity of the healthcare IT environment

The healthcare IT ecosystem involves multiple interconnected systems, including EHRs, IoMT devices, and telemedicine platforms that all collect and process vast amounts of sensitive information. This interconnected nature of healthcare networks means that a vulnerability in one part of the system can easily expose the entire network to risk. And as more systems communicate with each other (often across multiple facilities or even countries), monitoring and securing each endpoint becomes a daunting task. 

The human element

Human error remains one of the most significant contributors to data breaches. Despite the implementation of advanced security technologies, employees can inadvertently expose sensitive information through various means, including:

• Falling victim to phishing attacks, where cybercriminals trick users into divulging login credentials.
• Using weak passwords or reusing the same passwords across multiple accounts.
• Failing to follow proper data security protocols, leading to the accidental exposure of sensitive patient data.

Rapid technology adoption

The rapid adoption of cloud computing, mobile health applications, and the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) has expanded the attack surface for healthcare organizations. loMT devices, for example, are increasingly connected to hospital networks for remote monitoring and diagnostics. However, these devices often lack the same healthcare data security software as traditional IT systems, making them tempting targets for cybercriminals.

Evolution of cyber threats

Cybercriminals are no longer relying solely on traditional attack vectors like malware or ransomware. For example, they can target employees with AI-enhanced phishing attacks. Another significant threat in recent years is the usage of ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) platforms, where hackers rent out their ransomware tools to other criminals, thus, making the launch of ransomware attacks easier. These attacks often lead to loss of data, disruption of life-saving medical treatments, and financial losses accordingly.

Hacktivism 

The rise of hacktivism poses an additional challenge, as hacktivists also use advanced techniques to bypass healthcare database security measures and harm healthcare organizations for political reasons or just to make a statement. And since hacktivists are motivated by ideology rather than financial gain, their actions are less predictable.

Given the complexity of the challenges that the healthcare sector faces, organizations should adopt a comprehensive and proactive approach to data security. 

Best practices for securing and protecting healthcare data

The following best practices can help you safeguard healthcare data and prepare for compliance audits:

1. Develop and maintain robust security policies

A well-defined security policy should be the cornerstone of your data protection strategy since it helps mitigate risks by specifying how data should be handled, thus reducing potential data breaches. Consider creating detailed policies that outline security protocols, define security staff responsibilities, and establish processes for managing sensitive data. These policies should align with relevant legal standards for protecting patient data.

2. Educate and train employees

Human error continues to be one of the leading causes of data breaches in healthcare, making employee training essential to any organization. You should perform regular cybersecurity awareness training for all employees, with a focus on identifying and responding to phishing attempts, securing devices, and following proper data handling procedures. You can also use phishing simulations to test and identify those who struggle to recognize phishing attempts and need additional training.

3. Encrypt and back up data

All patient data, whether stored or transmitted, should be encrypted using industry-standard encryption algorithms. This ensures that even if data is intercepted or accessed by malicious actors, it remains unreadable without the decryption keys.

In addition to encryption, you need to perform backups to safeguard your organization against data loss. It’s important to perform backups frequently and store the data securely, preferably off-site or in a secure cloud environment. 

4. Implement strong access controls

Follow a zero trust security approach, where no one is trusted by default and all identities are verified to minimize data exposure and unauthorized access. You may also stick to the principle of least privilege which ensures that users are only granted access to the information they need to perform their job functions.

Additionally, consider enforcing mandatory multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all users accessing sensitive data. This will add an extra layer of security, guaranteeing that even if cybercriminals steal login credentials, they won’t be able to easily gain access to your critical systems.

5. Monitor user activity

Continuously monitor how sensitive data is being accessed and used across your network. Implement advanced monitoring tools that can track user activity and detect suspicious behavior in real time, allowing you to respond to potential breaches before they occur. Choose user activity monitoring solutions that can provide detailed logs to help you with incident investigation and compliance audits. 

6. Manage third-party risks

A breach at your vendor level can seriously affect your organization – under HIPAA, you may face fines for failing to adequately secure the data if a third-party breach exposes PHI of your patients, customers, or staff. So it’s essential to keep third-party threats under control. You need to thoroughly vet and monitor all your vendors, ensuring that they adhere to the latest security standards. Conduct regular audits, assess their security certifications, and make sure that your vendors implement strong access controls and encryption measures. 

7. Keep systems updated 

Vulnerabilities in outdated systems are often exploited by attackers to infiltrate your network. That’s why you must stay proactive by keeping all your systems, software, and medical devices up-to-date with regular patches and updates.  

8. Conduct regular risk assessments

Conduct regular risk assessments and penetration testing to identify potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. A risk assessment provides valuable insights into areas that require enhanced security measures, while penetration testing simulates real-world attacks to evaluate the effectiveness of your security defenses.

9. Create an incident response plan

Even with the best preventive measures, breaches can still occur, making a well-documented and actionable incident response plan (IRP) essential. Create an IRP that outlines clear steps for detecting, containing, eradicating, and recovering from a data breach.

Your incident response plan should also include a communication strategy for notifying affected individuals and regulatory authorities as required by applicable regulations and acts, such as HIPAA and the GDPR. 

10. Use dedicated cybersecurity software  

Employing robust cybersecurity software is a crucial step in protecting healthcare systems from evolving cyber threats. Such healthcare data security solutions can help you automate security tasks, monitor user activity, manage access to critical data, and provide real-time alerts for potential security incidents. And this is where Syteca can make a significant impact. 

How can Syteca help you secure sensitive healthcare data? 

Syteca is a comprehensive cybersecurity platform that can help you implement the best practices for securing and protecting healthcare data.

• Powerful access management. Grant access to critical endpoints for specific users only for a specified period of time. Allow users to access your critical systems only from particular devices or servers. Manually approve access requests to critical resources.
• Robust identity management. Employ two-factor authentication to verify user identities. Implement secondary authentication to distinguish the activity of users of shared accounts.
• Centralized password management for privileged and general user accounts. Securely store credentials, automatically rotate passwords and enable secure credential sharing among teams. 
• Advanced user session monitoring. Get real-time oversight over how users handle your sensitive data. A YouTube-like player provides a live session view and multilayer metadata of user activities including keystrokes typed, URLs visited, and specific applications launched.
• Proactive alerts and incident response. Leverage a robust alert system to get notifications about suspicious user activity. Respond to threats in real time by killing processes and blocking users.
• Reliable investigation tool. Export detailed user activity reports and recorded sessions in a forensic format for investigation purposes. Any evidence collected is tamper-proof and can be used to support legal inquiries without the risk of alteration. 

Syteca offers a robust suite of security solutions that help healthcare organizations address their unique challenges while ensuring compliance with data protection laws and regulations like HIPAA and GDPR.

Conclusion

The growing threat of cyberattacks, coupled with strict regulatory requirements, makes data security paramount for healthcare organizations of all sizes. By implementing a holistic data security strategy, healthcare organizations can protect patient data, maintain compliance, and safeguard their reputation. 

Syteca’s powerful privileged access management, user activity monitoring, and incident response capabilities can help you build a multi-layered defense, protect sensitive data, and meet the requirements of relevant laws, standards, and regulations.