Literature review
The aim of this report is to discuss the challenges in security of emerging networks. A brief literature review on the healthcare networks consisting of the architecture of the healthcare network, recent advancements in the networks of healthcare and the importance of security measure in the healthcare networks is provided. A critical analysis of three current potential security issues in the networks of healthcare is stated. After analysis of the security measures, a possible solution to one of the security risk is provided. Finally, this report concludes with an appropriate conclusion of this report.
Networks are a co-operative structure that functions with an interconnection of several systems that are connected independently. Healthcare networks are redesigned for social, economic and technological needs of the organisation [1].
There is an increase in the necessity of modified network architecture in the healthcare sector to meet the needs of the domain. The architecture of healthcare networks is based on Service Oriented Network Architecture (SONA) and thus it is segregated into three key infrastructural components, the server level, the client level, and the infrastructure level. The basic components in a healthcare network are routers, switches, firewalls, and servers [2].
Servers: Servers are essential in the systems of the healthcare organisations to provision the software, records of the patients, the results of the lab, images, and several other requirements. The organisations can gain the ability of collaborating with the colleagues, maintaining the electronic patient records, preserving information of billing, and providing quality healthcare to the patients with the successful deployment of servers [3]. Specially designed servers are required to fulfil the need of additional virtualised data centres and robust physical servers. Reliability of the servers is necessary to protect the organisation from outages as these outages can create major problems for the healthcare organisations with EHR (Electronic health records) systems. Efficient processing capacity is required for handling all the specialised healthcare applications and this efficient processing ability is gained with the introduction of servers [4].
Switch: A switch is a component of physical electric circuit that is used for governing the flow of signal. Switch enables the toggling of the connection, which means the circuit can be opened or closed as per need. In a LAN (Local Area Network) of healthcare organisation, a switch determines the proper transfer of all incoming data to specific ports by investigating the MAC (Media Access Control) address of the systems. When the switch is opened, power or signal flows through the link. A switch is implemented in a network to that is used for filtering and forwarding network packets but they are also capable of several other applications. The application of switches in a healthcare organisation is to control the data flow in the network. A switch performs the task of channelling the incoming data from several input ports to a specific output port for transferring data to the intended destination [5].
Firewalls: Firewall is a specially designed software system for preventing any unauthorised access of the private network of a healthcare organisation. Generally, the hospitals in the healthcare domain set up firewall to allow the incoming connections the port 80, which is the standard port used by web servers. This allows the authorised visitors to access the network of the organisation and it also keeps the unauthorised users from gaining access in the network. The traffic from the trusted users in the network will be allowed to navigate the firewall and link to internet, and allowing the users to avail services such as email. When a firewall is properly configured, it provides immense protection against the threats of DOS (denial of service) attacks. Complex firewalls provide support to the techniques of effective inspection by investigating the patterns in the traffic flow for identifying any kind of anomaly, which suggests that some kind of attack is underway [6].
Healthcare network architecture
Routers: Router is a hardware device that is designed for receiving, analysing and moving various incoming packets to alternative network. It can be also used for converting the packets to a new network interface, release these packets, and then perform some other actions that are related to the network. Router includes several capabilities than various other network devices, like switch or a hub, which are used only for performing basic functions of network. Routers has the ability to analyse all the data that are being transferred in a network, alter the packaging of the packets, and then send it to the destination network [7].
Some of the recent developments in the networks of healthcare are as follows:
Machine learning and AI application in the network: With the introduction of ML in the medical domain, the prospects of ailment diagnosis and disease identification has become feasible for the healthcare organisations. Some of the organisations in the healthcare sector are implementing AI in their network for the purposes of research and development of diagnostics and therapeutic treatments in several areas including oncology. Deep learning has provided the benefits of technology development for addressing the issue of macular degeneration of aging eyes [8].
Cloud computing in the health sector: The requirement of cloud computing is increasing in the healthcare sector for better storage purposes and the other benefits of cloud computing that can be useful for this sector. The demand of providing better medical services, develop the operational facilities, share all the information easily, and other facilities to the patients at relatively lower cost is increasing the demand of implementing cloud computing in the network. The healthcare organisation gains the ability to access the data of the patients easily from anywhere with internet facility [9].
The introduction of electronic medical records have introduced severe security threats to the healthcare organisations. There is an increase in demand to secure the data of the patients that are stored in the network of the healthcare sectors [10]. The electronic medical records of a healthcare organisation contains:
- Addresses
- Phone numbers
- Name of patients
- Date of birth of patients
- Places of work
- IDs, social insurance, and card numbers
When these information are stored in the network of a healthcare organisation, it creates the threat of data theft from the healthcare organisations. With the help of proper implementation of secure networks, the organisations can mitigate the threat of unauthorised users obtaining medical attention at the expense of others, and mitigate the conspiracy against the employees of a clinic.
Healthcare organisations implemented the wireless network for monitoring environmental or physical conditions of the organisations. Some of the major threats to the network of an healthcare organisation are as follows:
Eavesdropping and monitoring of vital signs of patients: The vital signs and medical records of the patients are stored in the data centres of the healthcare organisations via several wireless connections using the internet. This creates the possibility of major security breaches and risk of privacy of the patients. Any unauthorised user with malicious intention can snoop on the wireless channel and listen or alter the private health data of the users [11].
Recent technological advancements of healthcare network
Threats of denial of service: The DOS attacks creates the possibility of malicious actions or failure in nodes. The DOS attacks are executed for many purposes like subverting, disrupting, or destroying the network and it is also intended to diminish the capability of the network. These kind of attacks creates disruption in the network of the healthcare networks and temporarily shut down the network. The information stored in the database of the network can be stolen and misused [12].
Threats of routing: The threats to the network layer are referred as routing threats. This includes attack on the information in transit, selective forwarding, and sinkhole attacks. Attack on information in transit refers to the threat of alteration, destruction or theft of information that is being transmitted to a network. The term selective forwarding refers to the threat of adversely forwarding selected packets. The perpetrator gains the opportunity of creating routing loops that attacks or repels the traffic of the network. The source routers can be extended or shortened hackers or create false message and then try to destroy the complex information. Sinkhole attacks is the situation when a perpetrator attracts all the adjacently connected nodes for establishing routes via malicious node. The network becomes prone to many attacks after a successful sinking hole attack. These attacks are very difficult to detect and the network is generally destroyed after these attacks.
- The best practices of protecting a network from DoS attacks are:
- Maintaining an audit trail keeps a track of the changes that were made in the network and the reason for these changes.
- Creating of interdepartmental SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) and EOPs (Emergency Operating Procedures).
- The configuration of the system has to understood properly for implementing proper firewalls to prevent the access of unauthorised users.
- Regular testing of the systems has to be done to keep track of the modifications and developments that are executed in the network.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that the need to implement modified network in the organisations of healthcare sector is increasing. The main reason behind this demand is due to increase in demand of the facilities provided by the hospitals and clinics. The basic components that are constituted in a healthcare network architecture are routers, switches, firewalls, and servers. The recent developments in the healthcare networks are machine learning and AI implementation and cloud computing in the network. Security is healthcare network is important to protect the confidential data of the patients that are stored in the network. Some of the threats to the network of an healthcare organisation are DoS attacks and threats of routing.
References
[1] Brodrick, H.J., Raven, K.E., Harrison, E.M., Blane, B., Reuter, S., Török, M.E., Parkhill, J. and Peacock, S.J., Whole-genome sequencing reveals transmission of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in a healthcare network. Genome medicine, 8(1), p.4, 2016.
[2] Acharya, B., Maru, D., Schwarz, R., Citrin, D., Tenpa, J., Hirachan, S., Basnet, M., Thapa, P., Swar, S., Halliday, S. and Kohrt, B., Partnerships in mental healthcare service delivery in low-resource settings: developing an innovative network in rural Nepal. Globalization and health, 13(1), p.2, 2017.
[3] Bradai, N., Fourati, L.C. and Kamoun, L., WBAN data scheduling and aggregation under WBAN/WLAN healthcare network. Ad Hoc Networks, 25, pp.251-262, 2015.
[4] Mohammadi, M., Dehbari, S. and Vahdani, B., Design of a bi-objective reliable healthcare network with finite capacity queue under service covering uncertainty. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 72, pp.15-41, 2014.
[5] Doukas, C., Pliakas, T. and Maglogiannis, I., August. Mobile healthcare information management utilizing Cloud Computing and Android OS. In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE (pp. 1037-1040). IEEE, 2010.
[6] Zhang, D., Yu, Z. and Chin, C.Y., Context-aware infrastructure for personalized healthcare. Studies in health technology and informatics, 117, pp.154-163, 2005.
[7] Cypher, D., Chevrollier, N., Montavont, N. and Golmie, N., Prevailing over wires in healthcare environments: benefits and challenges. IEEE Communications Magazine, 44(4), pp.56-63, 2006.
[8] Booth, P., Frisch, P.H. and Miodownik, S., August. Application of RFID in an integrated healthcare environment. In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2006. EMBS’06. 28th Annual International Conference of the IEEE(pp. 117-119). IEEE, 2006.
[9] Catarinucci, L., De Donno, D., Mainetti, L., Palano, L., Patrono, L., Stefanizzi, M.L. and Tarricone, L., An IoT-aware architecture for smart healthcare systems. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 2(6), pp.515-526, 2015.
[10] Stout, W.M. and Urias, V.E., October. Challenges to securing the Internet of Things. In Security Technology (ICCST), 2016 IEEE International Carnahan Conference on(pp. 1-8). IEEE, 2016.
[11] Betancourt, J.R., Green, A.R., Carrillo, J.E. and Owusu Ananeh-Firempong, I.I., Defining cultural competence: a practical framework for addressing racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care. Public health reports, 2016.
[12] Raghupathi, W. and Raghupathi, V., Big data analytics in healthcare: promise and potential. Health information science and systems, 2(1), p.3, 2014.
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