Layered Data Protection Strategy: Keeping our Military Health Information Secure

As military healthcare organizations increase their use of technology to improve care delivery, they also must keep patient information highly available, protected, and secure.

The challenge is that healthcare data is high value for criminals, and needs to be secured against a growing wave of destructive, malicious attacks from this new breed of cybercriminals who target this data.

In a recent Healthcare IT News article, Dave Dimond, chief technology officer for Dell EMC’s global health business, shared insight on the best way to approach data protection, saying, “Organizations need to consider three-layered protection. You need to assume the threat is in the system and has been evolving.”

“Security and business resilience wasn’t well defined or well-funded about five years ago,” Dimond said in a recent MeriTalk article. “When the health care industry first began to adopt electronic health records (EHRs), the focus was on disaster recovery. Now, executive leadership is beginning to look more toward operation without interruption.”

Military healthcare organizations need top security for their patient data – such as three-layered protection – to ensure secure operational readiness and resiliency.

Three-Layered Protection with Dell EMC

 As military health IT teams modernize their infrastructure to work toward all of their goals – from EHR modernization, to improving population health, to supporting the warfighter in the field – they must ensure their vital patient data is protected. In a recent white paper, we outline a multilayer approach to secure healthcare’s most vital patient data.

One of the key aspects of this layered data protection strategy is a data vault, protected by an “air gap” – a space between the main system and the backup system that opens to synchronize the data and closes immediately, providing an isolated environment.

The layered data protection strategy is comprised of three layers:

• Traditional Data Protection Best Practices – Deploy a layered data protection approach for more business critical systems but always include a point-in-time, off array, independent backup with DR Replication

• Additional Hardening and Protection Features – DPS product specific hardening guides; encryption in-flight and/or at rest; retention lock with separate security officer credentials

• Advanced Protection Services – Isolated Recovery Solution; Dell EMC service offerings; use of evolving security analytics – such as RSA Security Analytics

The speed of change in devices and in the technology environment are very different than they were five years ago, Roberta Katz, director of Dell EMC’s Global Solutions, Healthcare-Life Sciences says. Protecting data now requires “a whole portfolio of protection strategies.”

Learn More:

• Layered Data Protection Strategy Preserves Continuity of Vital Patient Services
• EMC Study: S. healthcare industry lagging on data protection
• Layered Security Protects Against Cyberattacks Bent on Destroying Data, EMC Says

Author information

Barry Morris

Vice President, Dell EMC Federal Division

Barry Morris, Vice President of Dell EMC’s Federal Division, is responsible for general division management, providing leadership and vision to the Federal team, government contractors and partners, and Federal systems integrators. In this role, he is dedicated to helping agencies redefine IT in a more agile, trusted, and cost-efficient way. Morris brings 30 years of experience driving sales to the Federal government, and expanding coverage into the state and local government, education, and medical markets.

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