Assignment: Threats to Security

Assignment: Threats to Security

NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT:Assignment: Threats to Security

Threats to Security

The largest benefit of a computer network is the ability to share information. However, organizations need to protect that information and ensure that only authorized individuals have access to the network and the data appropriate to their role. Threats to data security in healthcare organizations are becoming increasingly prevalent. A nationwide survey by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) found that human error was responsible for more than half of  security breaches . Human error was categorized as failure to follow policies and procedures, general carelessness, lack of experience with websites and applications, and being unaware of new threats ( Greenberg, 2015 ). According to Degaspari ( 2010 ), “Given the volume of electronic patient data involved, it’s perhaps not surprising that breaches are occurring. According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR), 146 data breaches affecting 500 or more individuals occurred between December 22, 2009, and July 28, 2010. The types of breaches encompass theft, loss, hacking, and improper disposal; and include both electronic data and paper records” (para. 4). The Fifth Annual Benchmark Study on Privacy & Security of Healthcare Data ( Ponemon Institute, 2015 ) reported that “[m]ore than 90 percent of healthcare organizations represented in this study had a data breach, and 40 percent had more than five data breaches over the past two years” (para. 3). Interestingly, the most common type of data breach was related to a criminal attack on the healthcare organization (up 125% in the last 5 years). Key terms related to criminal attacks are  brute force attack  (software used to guess network passwords) and  zero day attack  (searching for and exploiting software vulnerabilities). Of the intentional data breaches (as opposed to unintentional), “45 percent of healthcare organizations say the root cause of the data breach was a criminal attack and 12 percent say it was due to a malicious insider” (Ponemon Institute, para. 4). That leaves nearly 43% of data breaches in the unintentional category.