How Your Healthcare Organization Can Achieve Cloud Cybersecurity and Compliance

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Healthcare leaders are embracing cloud technologies to connect information across the continuum of care, engage more patients, and unlock the potential of health data.  

While the cloud streamlines healthcare operations, it also presents challenges for organizations that must meet the stringent data security requirements of HIPAA and other security standards. In fact, a 2022 cloud computing survey found that IT decision makers view data privacy, security challenges, and lack of cloud security expertise as the biggest barriers to cloud adoption. 

These results are probably not surprising to you, as you’ve most likely faced some of them yourself. Luckily, these obstacles can be overcome.  

Stay Ahead of Cyber Risk and Regulations 

With a proactive approach — and the help of a security partner like Arctic Wolf® — your organization can remove barriers to the cloud and finish with a stronger security posture. In Arctic Wolf’s Proactive Cloud Compliance for Healthcare Organizations, you can learn about useful strategies to guide you in your compliance journey.  

Take Full Advantage of the Cloud 

While the cloud adds complexity to cybersecurity and compliance, cloud providers and technologies offer solutions to combat those complexities. Many cloud providers have invested heavily in the security of their cloud infrastructures to design multi-layered strategies that meet the requirements of numerous compliance certifications, regulations, and frameworks — including HIPAA. 

Cloud providers also offer security controls such as identity and access management, threat detection, automated security audits, firewall support, and other features to help you safeguard your cloud environment, data, and applications.  

A Proactive Partnership Can Streamline Compliance 

Healthcare is more heavily regulated than almost any other industry. From a data protection standpoint, healthcare providers and their business associates must typically comply with numerous privacy standards. The result? A tangle of local and international regulatory requirements you need to be aware of and satisfy — or risk fines, reputation damage, and revenue loss.   

There is no easy way to determine what regulations are relevant to your organization. Seeking a a healthcare security expert to partner with you will help you identify applicable policies, determine how they overlap, and find ways to streamline your compliance plan.  

Keep Track of the Ever-Changing Healthcare Industry Landscape  

When HIPAA was established in 1996, there were no smartphones or wirelessly connected medical devices, and very few care providers stored health data electronically. Today, medical professionals capture ePHI via handheld devices, collect biometric data through wearables, and see patients virtually. 

While there is no doubt that the cloud’s ability to connect data across the continuum of care is dramatically improving healthcare, the resulting web of interconnected systems and endpoints complicates security and compliance efforts. For example, it is estimated that electronic health record (EHR) systems handle more than 2.5 million requests per day per healthcare organization. This is a staggering number of access requests, potentially coming from anywhere in the world — and every single one must be safeguarded against exploitation. 

Take inventory of the many access points at play in your organization. Ensure access and audit controls are in place for each and every one, along with robust automated responses to detected security incidents. Are new technologies on the horizon? Take these into account as well. 

Proactively Address Employee Shortages and Skills Gaps  

As infrastructure evolves and increases in complexity, managing security and compliance requires more effort and expertise. Exacerbating these difficulties are elevated employee turnover rates and a chronic, global cybersecurity workforce shortage. 

Because cloud security and compliance are an all-hands-on-deck effort, loss or lack of experienced employees in any area of the organization increases risk. For this reason, outsourcing aspects of your cloud security and compliance program to a knowledgeable partner is a smart strategy. Not only will the right partner help you maintain operational continuity in the face of employee turnover and workforce shortages, they will also help you implement best practices, prepare for audits, continuously manage risk, and stay on top of complex, ever-changing regulations.  

Ease Your Burden with Arctic Wolf  

Maintaining security and compliance in the cloud can be a significant undertaking. But you don’t have to go it alone. Arctic Wolf and their Concierge Security® Team (CST) will help you stay on top of overlapping regulations and put the right people, processes, and technologies in place to keep your organization and patient data safe.  

Dig deeper into our capabilities. Download Proactive Cloud Compliance for Healthcare Organizations today. 

Arctic Wolf

Arctic Wolf

Arctic Wolf provides your team with 24x7 coverage, security operations expertise, and strategically tailored security recommendations to continuously improve your overall posture.
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