It’s now part of the conventional wisdom that cloud computing has altered the IT delivery model. The steady embrace of the cloud among healthcare providers large and small does not, however, mean that organizations can or should let their guard down on matters of security and data protection. While cloud server hosting provides compelling benefits, security is an essential part of any discussion of cloud adoption, especially in a HIPAA-compliant world. Mitigating security risks is imperative to creating a comfort level among those in the healthcare field, to transition applications and data to the cloud.
Applications, systems and data all have different security thresholds. Even in a highly regulated industry like healthcare, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) can be the architecture of choice. With IaaS, web, mobile and social can be moved to a virtual server with an increasingly high degree of confidence. When deciding whether an application, product or service belongs in a cloud server, healthcare CIOs must consider:
