The Security Concerns in Healthcare Networks
The security is the major concern of the health care network system. The globalization through the digitization medium has raised the concern of security and privacy issues. The confidentiality and the sensitivity of the information have to be preserved. It is required to develop an effective mechanism for preserving the confidentiality of the information. The health care industry is facing problems in managing the confidentiality of patient information stored in the network database. The security parameters should be constructed for securing the electronic medical records of the patients, assessment of the medical reports, image processing, medical facilities provided to the patients, and others. The effective management of the EMR helps in providing medical facilities to the patients in emergency situation.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the security risks associated with the healthcare networks and provides an innovative idea for managing the identified risks in an effective manner.
The literature review is conducted on analysing the security risks associated with the healthcare networks. There are different networks which promote the organization of EMR to provide instant medical facilities and services to the patients. The networks are categorised into three classes which are wireless network, wired network, and mobile networks. The deployment of different networks helps in increasing the information access from different sources according to the requirement of the patients. The doctors can effectively access the patient information from the EMR, Biomedical information, and previous prescription of the patients in emergency situation [1]. The security is major concern with the increasing demand of storing the patient information on the internets.
The healthcare network architecture is composed of wireless, wired, and mobile networks. The firewall security is provided to the network for securing the information of the EMR database. The application server gives response to the query posted by the patient and doctors for retrieving the information. The following diagram shows the health care network architecture:
The focus should be given on analysing the facts and figures related to the recent development takes place in the healthcare networks for securing the information. The intrusion detection systems are developed to restrict the unauthorised access of the information by the hackers without the knowledge of the authorised users [2]. The impact of the distributed denial of attacks can be minimized by deploying continuous monitoring of the network resources. The host intrusion protection system is used for protecting the asset management system in the health care sectors. The alarming system helps in managing the level of protection associated with the database information. The network intrusion system provides the platform for assessing the router information for evaluating the potential events associated in the coordination of resources.
The privilege should be given to the development of security architecture in the healthcare networks. The initialization of the firewall architecture and web-based configuration tools helps in managing the security, sensitivity, confidentiality, and accuracy of the information stored in the database related to the patient health record information. The monitoring of the healthcare networks helps in providing benefits in regards to identify the presence of the hackers for hacking the information, preventing the data loss and confidentiality of the information, restricting the modification and manipulation in the health records of the patients from the third party, monitoring of account access by the authorised and unauthorised user, maintaining reliability and accuracy of the information, and others [4]. The patients can get instant and accurate treatment by providing reliable information to the doctor at the time of emergency.
Different Types of Healthcare Networks
The security issues which are associated with the health care networks are identified as follows:
Denial of service attack: The hackers made use of tactic, technology, and process for hacking the information from the healthcare networks. The number of email is send to the receiver for getting the information related to the prescription from the doctors, health record information, blood reports, and others. The distributed denial of service attacks provides an opportunity to the hacker for retrieving the information of the patients. The modification and manipulation can be done by the hackers after getting access to the information which can affect the medical treatment provides to the patients in emergency situation which can have an adverse effect on the health of the patients.
Man in the Middle attack: The man in the middle attack increases the association of vulnerabilities in the passage of network traffic [3]. The viruses and Trojan horse malware get attached with the health record information of the patients by the hackers.
IP spoofing: The hackers manipulate the information of the transmitted message by getting access to the identity of the authorised users. There are no methods deployed for specifying the validation of the authentic control used by the user for manipulating and modifying the transmitted message. The IP spoofing attacks can be categorised as URL spoofing, email spoofing, DNS spoofing, and MAC spoofing.
The recent developments are proceedings to make health care network secure by making use of quantum cryptography. The quantum cryptography procedures help in ensuring the security of the data and information flow over the network. It is the best solution to preserve the patient health records from the Denial of service attacks.
There are different parameters and algorithms are developed for maintaining the privacy of the information such as public key infrastructure. The most preferred technology for encrypting the sensitive information from cyber-attack is Quantum cryptography. The quantum channel is used for sending the data in the form of photons. The encrypted message is sent along with one time pad (OTP) information at the receiver end for decrypting the cipher text. The data transfer can be effectively carried out for the transmission of confidential data by using OTP. The quantum mechanics is used for designing the cryptographic procedures and protocols. The polarization of the photons is used for analysing the occurrence of eavesdropping during the transmission of information. The secret key is created by using the mathematical formulas and functions for analysing the occurrence of eaves dropper.
The strength of the quantum cryptography can be measured on the basis of following attributes and characteristics:
- Confidentiality: The secret keys are developed by making use of quantum functions to enhance its confidentiality. The security of the data and information of the patients health record can be enhanced by analysing the distribution of key among sender and receiver for its decryption. The decryption and encryption of the data and information is carried out through the use of quantum mechanics. The logical problems of distributing the secrets keys can be solved by using the procedures of quantum cryptography.
- Authorization: The denial of service attacks problems associated with the data and information of the patient health record can be resolved by putting authorization and authentication with the use of secret key based on quantum formula. The hash values and hash functions are used for providing authentication of services to be used by the receiver. The vulnerabilities associated with the process of hybridization can be effectively analysed.
- Development of rapid secret key for the information exchange process: The key bits are used for formulating the key distribution encryption procedures. The binary digits are generated for the encryption and decryption which are known as one time pad (OTP). The OTP are accepted for providing the authentication to the information. The information can be fetched by the user by using the one time password which will act as a secret key for the transaction. The Advanced encryption standards (AES) is used for developing secret keys to make the program more secure.
- Robust protocol: The denial of service attack and eavesdropping procedures can be effectively analysed by the quantum key distribution which helps in making the encryption technique more secure and reliable. The point to point flow of information helps in managing communication between sender and receiver [2]. The mesh topology is used for making the cryptographic procedure more reliable and robust.
- Independence of quantum key distribution: The security architecture can be developed by making use of Internet protocol because the IP protocol is used for highlighting the path of destination to the photons which are used for sending the information to the client machine.
- Traffic and congestion control: The heavy flow of information and data can be controlled managing the point to point connection by using the quantum key distribution protocol. It helps in analysing the strength and the weakness of the network in maintaining the confidentiality and reliability of the information.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that the focus should be given on analysing the security risks associated with the health care networks should be taken under consideration so that the patients can get effective treatment in emergency situation. The denial of service attacks can be managed and prevented by initializing the parameters of quantum cryptography procedures and protocols.
References:
[1]S. Mohapatra, B. Swain, and P. Das, Comprehensive survey of possible security issues on 4G networks, International journal of network security and its application, 7(2), 2015.
[2]S. Islam, D. Kwak, M. Kabir, and K. Kwak, The internet of things for health care: A Comprehensive sureys, 2015.
[3]M. Meingast, T. Roosta, and S. Sastry, Security and Privacy issues with health care information technology, 2017.
[4]Cisco, Cisco health care security perspectives: Protect your patients, your practice, yourself technical implementation guide, 2016.
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