The Security Plan Of The United States Department Of Health And Human Services Essay

Another step involves security checks upon implementation and describes agency-level threat to the business scenario or the mission. It similarly entails sanctioning the information system for processing and lastly constant monitoring of the security controls. FISMA and NIST's standards are aimed at offering the ways for agencies to achieve their identified missions with safety commensurate with the threat (United States Department of Agriculture, 2015). Together with guidelines from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), FISMA and NIST create a framework for advancing and growing an information security scheme (SecureIT, 2008). Such framework includes control descriptions and evaluation, program development, and system certification and accreditation. The final objective involves conducting daily functioning of the agency and achieving the agency's articulated objectives with sufficient security commensurate with risk.

In a large service-related Healthcare organization with the staff to patient ratio approximately 1:100, there is a greater threat by technology of breaching security records. Medical records include information about ones physical and mental being. They may contain information about ones relationship with family members, sexual behavior, drug or alcohol problems and HIV status ( Burke & Weill, 2005). The confidentiality is threatened when the medical records information is put on the Internet, by use of telemedicine, and by the use of e-mail by healthcare workers. Although this is the fastest way to store and share

The significance of patient privacy and the security of confidential information are increasingly vital given the approval of electronic health records. Healthcare providers have recognized striking prices due to security threats and subsequent breaches. According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2002), under the Privacy Rule healthcare establishments must establish protections that establish procedures and rules that guarantee least levels of privacy in relation to patient information. When violations are recognized, it is required that a compliant be created by the individual or unit experiencing the violation. In the complaint, the name of the person who participated in the violation, in addition to the nature of the violation, must be comprehensive. The filing of the complaint initiates an investigation by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under HIPAA values (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). The establishment of a procedure related to privacy violations has resulted in many cases relating to electronic data breaches. Next is a consideration of two such cases to demonstrate the role of privacy in regards to HIPAA and electronic health database breaches.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services information security and privacy program is accountable for ensuring Operating Division SOP participation in the Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs) process; reviewing completed PIAs, and confirming that they are adequately and accurately completed prior to SAOP approval for web publishing; submitting the Privacy Management portion of the Department’s annual FISMA report to the SAOP for approval (HHS, 2010); overseeing the coordination of privacy-related reporting activities as mandated by federal legislation and OMB guidance; developing the proper policy and guidance for implementation of information privacy protections, including full compliance with federal laws, regulations, and policies relating to information privacy (HHS, 2010); maintaining appropriate documentation regarding compliance with information privacy laws, regulations, and HHS policies; ensuring the Department’s privacy compliance efforts are ongoing, including reviewing documented information privacy procedures to ensure that they are comprehensive and innovative, and managing revision, as necessary; ensure that 100 percent of department employees and contractors receive annual Information Security awareness training and role-based training in compliance with OMB A-130, Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), and National Institute of Standards and Technology

Under the HIPAA Security Rule, health care providers are required to conduct an accurate and thorough analysis of the potential risks and vulnerabilities. Protecting the confidentiality, integrity, availability, and privacy of data in health care is very important. For a risk analysis, health care providers would prioritize risks based on the severity of the impact that it would cause their patients and practices (Security Risk Analysis TipSheet, 2014). In addition, identifying the potential threats to patient privacy and security (Security Risk Analysis TipSheet, 2014). A risk analysis process would include determining the likelihood and impact of potential risk to electronic protected health information, implementing security measures to

The purpose of this paper is to review State of Maryland information security program documentation and to determine the security standards used to create the program in order to protect confidentiality, integrity and availability of agency operations, organizational assets or individuals which is the main agenda of State of Maryland Department of information technology. We will also discuss about other standards that can be useful for the State of Maryland Information technology and compare and contrast the standards.

Among one of the missions of The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is to protect and preserve the security of the Cyberspace in the country. The principal objective of this Security Plan is to give instructions and direction for the Department’s workers and help the Homeland Security to create best practices and strategies in the IT security system.

The purpose of the system security plan (SSP) is to provide an overview of federal information system security requirements and describe the controls in place or planned to meet those requirements for the Department of Health and Human Services. Each SSP is developed in accordance with the guidelines contained in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-18, Guide for Developing Security Plans for Information Technology Systems, and applicable risk mitigation guidance and standards. Through

Data privacy is vital to healthcare organizations and the health information they store. Johns (YEAR) defines data security as “a collection of protection measures and practices that safeguard data, computers, and associated resources from undesired occurrences and exposures” (p. 207). To protect their information, organizations must develop a data security program to meet the needs of Health Information Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA), stakeholders, and the business’s needs. Additionally following the guidelines set by HIPAA is key to being in compliance with the law. These programs differ depending on the organizations that are required to establish them, however, they all follow the same steps in creating and implementing this program

The scope of the policy outlines the need of security to prepare the Department of Health of Human Services (DHHS) to be able to countermeasure cyber security threats.

Under the Constitution of the United States has mandated the government to protect the United States of America from any threat, foreign and domestic. The government must deter and prevent attacks on our homeland and as well as deter and threats from potentially occurring. Following 9/11, the Department of Defense has been entrusted with the role in the management of risks facing the United Sates.

The technical recommendation for addressing the security requirements in ABC Healthcare network needs a set of controls which include, access controls, audit controls and integrity controls. Access and audit controls ensure how healthcare professionals and other employees access sensitive data such as Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI), and the process of authentication. Personnel are often targets of social engineering attacks that potentially could result to security breaches and attacks; therefore, it is essential to provide adequate security awareness training to all new hires, as well as refresher training to current employees on a yearly basis. Ensuring personnel have an understanding of sensitive information, common security risks, and basic steps to prevent security breaches can develop habits that would make them less susceptible to social engineering attacks.

This paper will discuss the various threats and vulnerabilities related to the United States healthcare system as well as government regulations and policies as well as the issues of overall personal data security as a whole. Threat assessment in regards to a cyber- attack and the level of liability in the aftermath of a cyber-attack will also be discussed. In addition to the implementation of future protocols regarding personal identifiable information to reduce the sheer number of vulnerabilities, prevent data theft as a result of future attempts at cyber-attacks.

The department of Health and Human Services protects and guides the health and well being of individuals here in America (Thacker, 2014). They fulfill these duties providing Americans with adequate and efficient health and human services and monitoring services designed to increase the efficiency of care in the health system (Thacker, 2014). One of the services being monitored by the department of Health and Human Services is the electronic health record system, which carries private and vital information of patient’s health record enabling all eligible participating health workers access to these records (Thacker, 2014). A breach of the protective health information of patients in a health organization creates chaos as these are against the health insurance portability and accountability (HIPAA) law (Thacker, 2014). Hence, measure will have to be put in place to determine what caused the breach and how to rectify it to ensure the breach never happens again (Thacker, 2014).

Designing a working plan for securing the organization s information assets begins by creating or validating an existing security blueprint for the implementation of needed security controls to protect the information assets.  A framework is the outline from which a more detailed blueprint evolves.  The blueprint is the basis for the design, selection, and implementation of all subsequent security policies, education and training programs, and technologies.  The blueprint provides scaleable, upgradeable, and comprehensive security for the coming years.  The blueprint is used to plan the tasks to be accomplished and the order in which