Privacy in relation to e-health has been another security related issue that, of course, is often mentioned. Certainly it is an issue – but many elderly people using the services are actually requesting that a video cam be placed in their bathroom, as this is the most likely spot for an emergency to arise.
Another hot issue regarding privacy is the online patient record system that needs to be available to all those with the authorisation to use it. People in countries with little experience in high-speed broadband and e-health applications will encounter ignorant politicians who will make an unnecessary fuss about privacy.
It is true that connecting medical devices to the Internet may make the system vulnerable to viruses or hacking. This concern may need to be addressed sooner rather than later after the Conficker worm managed to infect a number of MRIs around the world in 2009. There has also been evidence that Peer-2-Peer (P2P) file sharing of data may also place medical records at risk of a security breach.
A survey by US organisation Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) found that most budgets for healthcare security and privacy increased in 2012. The fifth annual security survey found that more than half of the 303 respondents had increased their budgets during that year – although just less than half also conceded they allocated less than 3% of their IT budgets to healthcare security/privacy.