Over 90 Total Lots Up For Auction at One Location - WA 04/08

Safely working via remote access

by Sean Ruck, Contributing Editor | June 05, 2020
From the May 2020 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Ideally, employees should be able to focus on their core work and bring their particular skill sets to bear while the work of determining which platforms will meet requirements is carried out by the IT professionals. Those professionals should ensure secure access to internal networks and internal data stores according to Ben-Ari. He says there should also be secure communications established for video, audio and chat functions, and that tracking and authenticating the hardening (securing) of devices like laptops and smartphones should also occur.

If hospitals or healthcare systems don’t currently have professionals in-house with the experience and knowledge required to secure the systems, he recommends a third-party service provider with a trusted reputation in the healthcare industry be tapped to lead the charge.

However, IT should not be the only ones involved, especially since the work might result in unbudgeted expenditures (like the hiring of a third-party service provider). The challenge needs a team. In addition to IT, high level management should be in the loop to ensure they understand what is permitted for accessing internal systems and which secure channels are being used for transferring patient information. “It's important that management plays a role because they will be held liable if there is a breach," he says.

There’s another challenge that healthcare faces with employees working from home, but the industry isn’t the only one in that boat. With far more people logging on remotely than ever before and even increases in streaming services, as people who might not have been heavily utilizing the internet for their jobs are now home and trying to stay entertained, the whole system is experiencing an unprecedented rate of use. Ben-Ari says that overload of the system will result in database transfer disruptions. Weak internet access will result in increased security issues, because people will then look for bypasses like VPNs, which will cause security problems since VPNs can’t be tracked. And because of connectivity problems, people may also switch from Zoom-like platforms to platforms with even less security control that could cause misconfiguration or abuse.

Ben-Ari recommends single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, passwords for meetings and the avoidance of permanent links for meetings.

He offered a final piece of advice, "it's important to continuously track implementation. When you open a channel to an internal system, track the access, even on a daily or weekly basis. It's important to go over the communication and possible breaches or attempts at breaches. Remote working as a consequence of COVID-19 should be considered like wartime, and it should be handled the same way."

Back to HCB News

You Must Be Logged In To Post A Comment