Information Security

The main measures in the context of information security look as follows:Establish appropriate information security policiesIdentify those responsible.Provide awareness education and trainingTake measures against viruses and malwareConclude data sharing agreementsProtect access to systemsDevelop and implement continuity managementHave regard to intellectual propertyProtect company documentsProtect personal dataComply with security policiesReport security incidentsPlan measures following incidents

Plan: The first step in creating an information security policy is to create a plan. To do this, it is necessary to make an overall analysis of your organization. Which persons and departments work with confidential data, how do they currently handle confidential data and what are risk areas within your organization regarding data protection? First, you take stock of your environment: what security risks could cause internal and external relationships? Then, through a risk analysis, you map out where your organization faces further security risks. By mapping the risks, you know exactly where to take measures. In a statement of applicability you determine which data security should be present in your organization.Do: In the statement of applicability you have determined in which areas you should take measures. In this step it is important that you have actually implemented these measures within your organization. When defining the guidelines, you should take into account how employees should deal with these measures and how the measures are properly applied.Check: In this phase, you should use critical performance indicators (KPIs) to measure whether the measures you have taken are effective.Act: In this final step, you will need to get to work with the knowledge you have gathered in the previous steps. Is the information security policy now complete and effective? Do you still see an opportunity for improvement? In this phase you will check whether the intended goals have been achieved. See if the principles in the first step are still valid. Should this not be the case, you need to respond effectively.

Nowadays, much more information and data is being digitized in healthcare, so information security has become increasingly important. In addition, in the healthcare sector, data is exchanged with each other on a daily basis. Think of patient personal data and laboratory diagnoses shared with specialists. The last thing you want is for this data to be out in the open. Moreover, you have to comply with information security legislation.