HMGT327 Northcentral University Hospital Cyber Security Discussion The completed paper for this module (4-5 pages) should address the following issues:Are

HMGT327 Northcentral University Hospital Cyber Security Discussion The completed paper for this module (4-5 pages) should address the following issues:Are there any existing policies/programs/mechanisms in place to address the issues/problems you identified in Module 4?What measures/steps would you propose to solve/address this issue/problem?Are there any resources needed?What is the impact if this issue/problem you idenfitied is left unattended? Running head: CYBERSECURITY IN HOSPITALS
Cybersecurity in Hospitals
Name
Institution
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Cybersecurity in Hospitals
Introduction
In recent years, the United States has been experiencing a rise in cases of cyberattacks in
the hospitals compromising the provision of quality healthcare service to the patients. The
increase in the use of internet technology in handling hospital information and records of the
patients make it easy for the cybercriminals to access the information and use it to get ransoms
from hospitals or even delete the data affecting the treatment process in the hospitals. Some of
the hospitals also use the technology in operation some of the devices, and if the cybercriminals
attack the hospital system, all the activities will stand still because appliances like lifts, lab
machines and many other will not operate. Enhancing the security of hospital information is
critical in the provision of quality healthcare and maintaining high confidentiality when it comes
to patients’ data (Liu, Chung, Chen, & Wang, 2012). It is important to note that the security of
the hospital information, as well as the operating system of the hospital, significantly determines
the provision of quality healthcare in all health facilities.
Key messages of research findings
The finding from the research conveys useful information not only to hospitals in Seattle,
Washington but also to all health providing facilities worldwide, especially those depending
primarily on internet connection in the day-to-day operation. One of the primary findings from
the research is that the quality of the healthcare in the health facilities depends on the security
and the ability of the health providing officers to access and transfer the information from one
point to another. When the patients’ information is secure against cyberattacks, it enables the
doctors to make life-saving decisions within the shortest time possible because, with the use of
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internet technology in the hospitals, it is easy to retrieve store and even transfer information from
one department to another, therefore, enhancing provision of quality healthcare.
The research findings also indicate that in the recent past, cybercriminals have been
developing sophisticated means of accessing hospital data and that is the reason to why around
the year 2017, there were several cyberattack cases reported by different hospitals in Seattle,
Washington (Abomhara, 2015). The increasing instances of cyberattacks in the hospitals were
something to worry about, especially by hospital management, because it could affect the entire
health providing facilities. The hospitals needed to find a way of reducing the number of attacks,
in the year 2018, majority of the hospitals manage to increase cybersecurity budget, as well as
purchasing reliable technologies, and at the end, the number of cyberattacks in the hospitals went
down significantly. The study reveals that it is possible to enhance cybersecurity by adopting
reliable technologies and financing efforts to combat cyber attacks.
The study findings also show that as the number of cyberattacks increases in the
hospitals, the number of patients’ records or information also affected increases and in the
process affects the provision of quality healthcare services to the patients. It also indicates that by
reducing number attacks in the hospital information and the operation it is possible to enhance
provision o quality healthcare to the patients as well as making work easier for health providing
personnel in the health facilities. Use of internet technology in the hospitals play a significant
role in enhancing service delivery because the technology enables the doctors to save and even
retrieve patient’s information, therefore, improving decision making that will end up saving the
life of the patients unlike when using the conventional method of saving or retrieving paper files.
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To achieve quality healthcare service to the patients, the health facilities should embrace
the use of technology, but they should consider putting in place a reliable system and mechanism
that will secure hospital information against cyber attacks. The study findings also highlight the
importance of health facilities performing incidence response because it enables the hospitals to
develop new ways that can allow them to handle and build resilience to cyber attacks enhancing
their ability to provide quality healthcare to the patients. It is critical to understand that the
hospital capability to handle cyber attacks can erode over time, and it is essential for the
hospitals to review their cybersecurity mechanisms to enhance the security of hospital
information.
Comparison of research findings with other studies
The results of this particular study conform to the findings of other studies concerning
cybersecurity in hospitals around the world. Some of the research studies carried out outside the
United States shows that the number of cyberattacks in hospitals has been increasing in the
recent past compromising the operation of the hospital affecting the provision of quality
healthcare services to the patients. The Romanian hospital’s cyberattack shows that the breaches
of hospital information are increasing, concerning the operation of the hospitals (Stanciu &
Tinca, 2017). The Romanian hospitals’ cyber attack was one of its kinds suspecting the attacker
to be coming from China. The increasing attacks in the hospital information system are not only
occurring in the united state alone but also around the world affecting the operation of the health
facilities and provision of quality healthcare.
Enhancing cybersecurity in health facilities has proved to be one of the sustainable
solutions to cyber-attacks in the hospital information system. Majority of the countries around
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the world and adopting new technologies as well as investing more on the programs that help the
hospitals to secure their critical information. Internet technology has become crucial in the
operation of the hospitals, and it is essential to find ways that can enable the health facilities to
use the technology with minimum breach of the information (Yuehong, Zeng, Chen, & Fan,
2016). Other studies on hospital cybersecurity also highlight that cyber attackers have been
developing ingenious ways of having control over hospital information system so that they can
get ransom money before releasing the data management system to the hospital management. It
is therefore vital to secure hospital information because the findings from other studies also show
that there is a significant relationship between the levels of security of the hospital information
with the quality of healthcare service provision to the patients.
Policy implications
The findings from the study play a critical role when formulating policies that enhance
the security of data in the hospitals, thus improving quality healthcare service in health facilities.
Since the quality of healthcare service in the hospital depends on how secure is the hospital data,
it is a priority for the hospitals to ensure that they have secure mechanisms that enable them to
use internet technology to handle their information with no cyberattack cases on the information
systems. With secure hospital information, patients will be able to receive quality healthcare
services because the technology enables the health facilities to manage their data effectively and
efficiently saving more lives in comparison to when using the conventional method of managing
hospital data.
The findings also show that the cybercriminals are using sophisticated methods to access
hospital information and the discovery is crucial when developing policies because there is a
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need to have advanced technologies and systems that prevent the attackers from accessing
hospital data. The hospitals should have policies that guide them towards achieving a reliable
technological system that ensures secure information management system that plays a critical
role in not only enhancing the provision of quality healthcare service to the patients but also
making the work of health providers easy.
Since internet, technology is essential in the management of the hospital information as
well operation of the health providing facilities it is therefore critical for all health facilities to
embrace the use of technology but should also consider adopting a reliable system that prevents
cybercriminals from accessing hospital data (Roman, Najera, & Lopez, 2011). The health
facilities aim to provide quality healthcare to the patients and to use internet technology in
handling critical hospital information is key to the achievement of quality healthcare service to
patients. The report guides the development of policies that ensure that all the health facilities
embrace the use of technology in operating the hospitals, but it is essential to prioritize on
cybersecurity that will ensure that hospital data is safe against malicious cybercriminals.
Conclusion
Internet technology is vital to healthcare providing facilities, especially when it comes to
not only the provision of quality healthcare to the patients but also making work easier for the
health-giving personnel in the hospitals. Cybercriminals have mange to improvise their ways of
accessing hospital data leading to an increase in the number of cyberattacks in the recent past.
Adopting advanced technologies and mechanisms to help prevent cyber attackers and therefore
enables the hospitals to provide high quality healthcare services. The findings from the studies
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show that the problem of cyber attacks is all over the world affecting service provision in health
facilities. The results help in the formulation of policies that enhance hospital cybersecurity.
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References
Abomhara, M. (2015). Cyber security and the internet of things: vulnerabilities, threats, intruders
and attacks. Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility, 4(1), 65-88.
Liu, C. H., Chung, Y. F., Chen, T. S., & Wang, S. D. (2012). The enhancement of security in
healthcare information systems. Journal of medical systems, 36(3), 1673-1688.
Roman, R., Najera, P., & Lopez, J. (2011). Securing the internet of things. Computer, (9), 51-58.
Stanciu, V., & Tinca, A. (2017). Exploring cybercrime–realities and challenges. Accounting and
Management Information Systems, 16(4), 610-632.
Yuehong, Y. I., Zeng, Y., Chen, X., & Fan, Y. (2016). The internet of things in healthcare: An
overview. Journal of Industrial Information Integration, 1, 3-13.

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