Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients

A publication of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015, Section 405(d) Task Group

The HIPAA Security Rule establishes the requirements for protection of electronic patient health information. The safeguards identified are made up of three domains that include administrative, physical, and technical safeguards that need to be addressed. The technical safeguards as defined within 45 CFR §164.312 of the HIPAA Security Rule can be some of the most difficult to comprehend and implement for smaller Health Centers with lower levels of IT and security staffing. Resources and tools that help Health Centers better process and implement these security requirements are much needed and require well-documented methods for planning and maintaining critical security controls.

Toward this objective, in 2017, HHS established the CSA 405(d) Task Group, which leveraged the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Public-Private Partnership and was made up of over 100 participants and experts across domains that include cybersecurity, privacy, healthcare practitioners, and Health IT organizations.

In December of 2018 this task force published the Health Industry Cyber Preparedness (HICP) document, which is a cyber-preparedness “cookbook” designed to assist small providers in prioritizing cybersecurity threats and implementing controls to address them. 

The publication includes a main document, two technical volumes, and a set of resources and templates that include:

• Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices: Managing Threats and Protecting Patients (HICP): The HICP examines cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities that affect the healthcare industry. It explores (5) current threats and presents (10) practices to mitigate those threats.
   
• Technical Volume 1: Cybersecurity Practices for Small Health Care Organizations: Technical Volume 1 discusses the ten Cybersecurity Practices along with Sub-Practices for small health care organizations.
   
• Technical Volume 2: Cybersecurity Practices for Medium and Large Health Care Organizations: Technical Volume 2 discusses the ten Cybersecurity Practices along with Sub-Practices for medium and large health care organizations.
   
• Resources and Templates: The Resources and Templates portion includes a variety of cybersecurity resources and templates for end users to reference.