International Journal of

ADVANCED AND APPLIED SCIENCES

EISSN: 2313-3724, Print ISSN: 2313-626X

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 Volume 11, Issue 4 (April 2024), Pages: 167-181

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 Original Research Paper

A security framework to protect ePHI in Saudi Arabia's healthcare infrastructure

 Author(s): 

 Naif Hakami, Hazzaa Alshareef, Maha Helal *

 Affiliation(s):

 College of Computing Informatics, Saudi Electronic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

 Full text

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 * Corresponding Author. 

  Corresponding author's ORCID profile: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3834-4410

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

 https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2024.04.019

 Abstract

Today, protecting patient privacy and ensuring the accuracy and integrity of their data are the two most crucial concerns in the healthcare field. Unauthorized access or changes to patients' private health records can lead to serious issues. Moreover, if healthcare providers fail to update a patient's records quickly, it could result in dangerous, even life-threatening situations. Attacks on hospital computer systems also present a significant danger to patient care. Establishing strong security measures and procedures through cybersecurity frameworks can help protect sensitive patient information, known as electronic protected health information (ePHI). The Security Rule by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a well-established set of security guidelines, focuses on safeguarding ePHI held by healthcare organizations and their associates. This paper suggests creating a Data Cybersecurity Framework (DCF) specifically for the healthcare sector in Saudi Arabia. This framework aims to shield ePHI and align with the security recommendations of the HIPAA Security Rule. The development of this proposed framework involved consultations with healthcare cybersecurity experts and concentrated on the healthcare system in Saudi Arabia. The research concludes that enhancing the protection of patient information and raising public awareness requires the joint efforts of various entities, including government bodies.

 © 2024 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

 Patient privacy, Data integrity, Cybersecurity framework, ePHI protection, Healthcare sector

 Article history

 Received 22 November 2023, Received in revised form 1 April 2024, Accepted 18 April 2024

 Acknowledgment 

No Acknowledgment.

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

 Citation:

 Hakami N, Alshareef H, and Helal M (2024). A security framework to protect ePHI in Saudi Arabia's healthcare infrastructure. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 11(4): 167-181

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 Figures

 Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Fig. 7 

 Tables

 Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4 Table 5 Table 6 Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Table 11 Table 12 Table 13 Table 14 Table 15 

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