HIPAA Compliant Cloud Storage Services
Cloud computing has caught the fancy of healthcare organizations and they are eagerly embracing it with its varied benefits. The advantages include features like scalability, flexibility and cost-efficiency. The file sharing and data access by the users has been made easier; thanks to the cloud computing benefits, but it does come with its own perils. Cloud security is a major concern, but cloud adoption is definitely impacting the industry regulations. Healthcare enterprises need to tread extra caution and conduct deep research on their chosen cloud storage. HIPAA-HITECH compliance is a must for them while selecting any of the cloud service modules. CloudCodes team has selected the popular five cloud storage service providers, which are HIPAA complaint. The enterprises need to evaluate their requirements before settling for the best. Before jumping into the five cloud service providers list, it is important that the role of cloud computing in healthcare firms and its impact on HIPAA-HITECH be studied. CASB solutions provide heightened cloud data security thus facilitating HIPAA Compliant Cloud Storage Services.
The Major Role played by HIPAA Compliant Cloud Storage Services
The HITECH Act appended a notification after there were incidences of data breach in the unprotected PHI (Personal Health Information). The notification covers all the entities and close associates identification with OCR (Office of Civil Rights). The OCR database of reported breach cases is caused due to lost or stolen mobile devices, laptops and other portable media devices like pen drives. When a cloud platform is properly selected, it will help enterprises in warding off the security challenges on those endpoints. Any of the PHI stored in these on behalf of the healthcare organizations necessarily demands HIPAA compliance. When enterprises opt for a trusted HIPAA compliant cloud storage, then the integrity, privacy, and accessibility of the data will be achieved. HIPAA is not limited to the administrative level but also includes physical and technical level security.
FIVE Major HIPAA Compliant Cloud Storage Services
Here below are the five cloud storage services that provide HIPAA support with BAAs (Business Associate Agreement):
- Google Drive: Google Apps for Work provides BAA for customers in Google. The Gmail services include Google Docs, Forms, Slides and Sheets. The account admin can control activities like file sharing permissions, audits, inspecting user activities and application tracking.
- Box: This supported HIPAA-HITECH from the year 2013 and is now widely used among the healthcare customers. BAA is enabled on enterprise accounts. Access reporting and audit trail and monitor for the users and content are some of the Box features. It creates a secure cloud working environment by granular file authorization. It not only allows for secure viewing but also allows for sharing of the DICOM files in a secure way through the direct message protocol.
- Carbonite: Healthcare centers are provided with BAA option when using Carbonite. Compliance with the Massachusetts data security regulation is provided in addition to safeguarding of the offsite backup for disaster recovery. The data is secured not only the cloud, but also on the local endpoints in the transition state as well.
- Dropbox (BUSINESS): This became officially HIPAA-HITECH Act compliance in the year 2015. The new service provides BAAs for the Dropbox Business customers. This provides for many administrator rights like acquire control over user access, user activity report tracking, review and removal of synced devices and two-step authentication activation.
- Microsoft OneDrive: Microsoft supports HIPAA-HITECH compliance by enabling BAA for the cloud service of the healthcare enterprise through OneDrive. It has some other additional security features that offer the best cloud data security. It has the advance eDiscovery option and advance security level management to gain insight into the cloud threats and assess the security risks.
Conclusion about HIPAA Compliant Cloud Storage Services
The best way to find out the best HIPAA compliant cloud storage is to see if there is PHI protection. The OCR role for risk assessment and management is necessary too. In order to mitigate risks, enterprises should periodically carry out comprehensive security risk assessment. All the processes, policies and technologies need to be in the correct place. CASB solutions help the healthcare enterprises to achieve additional security to their PHI data as well as be HIPAA compliant.