Privacy in Cloud Healthcare Data

Abstract

In today's rapidly evolving era of medical science, the privacy and security of electronic health records are given the most importance since digital data, which are preferably stored in a cloud environment, attract various hackers and intruders. In the healthcare sector, data analytics and market research are used by insurance agencies to study the pattern of claims submitted by customers or to study demographics of people to acquire new and more customers. Since healthcare data are highly confidential and vast in nature, users often store them in a cloud in encrypted form. The data privacy laws are essential in seeking answers to questions such as: Who owns the complete picture of the user? What risks are associated with situations of massive data leaks? To date, the privacy issues still exist since no stringent controls are in place to protect users' sensitive data, especially in the healthcare sector, and privacy continues to be an important domain for discussion and further research.