Cyber Security in Remote Patient Monitoring : Risks and Solutions

Information loss and theft   is now the most expensive consequence of a cyber crime (Ponemon Institute,2017). Cyber attacks are a reality for all organizations . A global study  carried out by the Ponemon Institute reported that 237 companies in 6 countries had been the victim of cyber crime in the year 2016 .The study included 1,278 interviews with company personnel where attack rates where measured as 465 total attacks  resulted in over 9.5 million dollars in cost in lost revenue and a 21 % increase in attacks from the year before . But what implications does this have on Institutions responsable for delivering health care from remote locations or what is known as Tele health . Upon analysis and  discussions with Tele health Professional Colleagues  some of the areas for lost data are Blood Pressure readings ,  Oxygene saturation , Temperature monitoring and other multiple test monitored and documented in remote assessment . Other areas that may be affected by a sudden loss of data are data collected during continuum  of care such as Intake and Output readings , changes in gait , neurological changes and other more intricate physical symptoms related to social and behavioral health . So what can the  health professional monitoring  a remote person do in this instance ? How can we better secure data and manage documentation to provide quality assurance ?. There are nine characteristics of innovative and cyber secure organizations . Findings reveal the following characteristics that both innovate their operations to meet business objectives and minimize the financial and reputational consequences of a cyber crime . Among some of these are (1) Security Posture (2) Information Management (3) Data Protection , and Detection and Recovery. Companies that continually scale up their data management and recovery efforts fair much better when they integrate   strategies in data protection and avert the largest cost impact from cyber crimes which increase dramatically post cyber attack , often to the tune of 39% increase in business loss from disruption  . STEAM or Science , Technology , Education , Art , and Mathamatics are an intricate part of public health practice . This is demonstated by the integration of the disiplines in public health and their impact when implemented into prevention and health promotion . Raising the question ? Is a cyber crime commited against a health orgabization or institution or agency a sentinal event ?  . Comments can be posted and will be viewed and discussed .


References
Ponemon (2016) 2016 Cost of Cyber Crime Study & the Risk of Business Innovation. Ponemon Institute .