Why HIPAA isn’t Enough to Keep Patient Data Secure

The following is a guest blog post by Takeshi Suganuma, Senior Director of Security at Proficio.
Takeshi Suganuma
Just meeting minimum HIPAA safeguards is not enough to keep patient data secure. This should come as no surprise when you consider that HIPAA was developed as a general framework to protect PHI for organizations ranging from small medical practices to very large healthcare providers and payers. After all, one size seldom fits all.

While HIPAA is a general, prescriptive framework for security controls and procedures, HIPAA disclosure rules and penalties are very specific and have increased impact as a result of the Omnibus Final Rule enacted last year. The CIOs and CSOs we talk to are not willing to risk their organization’s reputation by just implementing the minimum HIPAA safeguards.

The collection, analysis, and monitoring of security events is a prime example of where medium to large-sized organizations must do much more than just record and examine activity as prescribed by HIPAA.

The challenge to effectively monitor and prioritize security alerts is exacerbated by the changing security threat landscape. Unlike the visible incursions of the past, new attacks employ slow and low strategies. Attackers are often able to sys­tematically pinpoint security weaknesses and then cover all traces of their presence as they move on to penetrate the other critical IT assets.

Hackers are using multiple attack vectors including exploiting vulnerabilities in medical devices and printers. Networked medical devices represent a significant security challenge for hospitals, because their IT teams cannot upgrade the underlying operating system embedded into these devices. Many medical devices using older versions of Windows and Linux have known security vulnerabilities and are at risk of malware contamination.

Insider threats comprise a significant risk for healthcare organizations. Examples of insider threats include employees who inappropriately access the medical records, consultants who unintentionally breach an organization’s confidentiality, and disgruntled employees seeking to harm their employer. Insider activity can be much more difficult to pinpoint than conventional external activity as insiders have more privileges than an external attacker. Security event monitoring and advanced correlation techniques are needed to identify such suspicious behavior. For example, a single event, such as inappropriate access of a VIP’s medical records, might go unnoticed, but when the same person is monitored saving files to a USB drive or exhibiting unusual email activity, these correlated events should trigger a high priority alert.

The volume of security alerts generated in even a mid-size hospital is staggering – tens of millions a day. Without a tool to centrally collect and correlate security events, it is extremely difficult to detect and prioritize threats that could lead to a PHI data breach. Log management and SIEM systems are part of the solution, but these are complex to administer and require regular tweaking to reflect new security and compliance use cases.

Technology alone is just a starting point. Unfortunately, hackers don’t restrict their activities to local business hours and nor should the teams responsible for the security of their organization. Effective security event monitoring requires technology, process, and people. Many healthcare organizations that lack in-house IT security resources are turning to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) who provide around-the-clock Security Operation Center (SOC) services.

The challenge for today’s security teams, whether internal or outsourced, is to accurately prioritize alerts and provide actionable intelligence that allows a fast and effective response to critical issues. Tomorrow’s goal is to move beyond reporting incidents to anticipating the types of suspicious behaviors and patterns of multi-stage attacks that could lead to data being compromised. Multi-vector event correlation, asset modeling, user profiling, threat intelligence and predictive analytics are among the techniques used to achieve preventive threat detection. The end game is a preemptive defense where real-time analysis of events triggers an automated response to prevent an attack.

The increasing cost of litigation and the loss of reputation that result from an impermissible disclosure of PHI are driving healthcare organizations to build robust security controls and monitor and correlate real-time security events. HIPAA guidelines are a great start, but not enough if CIOs want to sleep easily at night.

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2 Comments

  • Most of the issues mentioned are easily managed, by implementing good controls, compliance to ISO27001:2013 standard, and enforcing endpoint security.
    Breaches, and improper handling of data by personnel involved , are the main concern areas. The same can be handled with training, disclosure or misuse disciplinary actions.

    Here to help.

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