The answer partly lies , Brown says , in a focus on ‘ cyber hygiene ’ across the healthcare sector . “ This includes endpoint protection , access control , network segmentation and an aggressive patch program . They need to realise they are a more attractive target for attack and take precautions to not become a victim of opportunity . Once good cyber hygiene is in place , they should be proactive in testing the environment and modeling cyber outbreaks . Just like a common cold or virus , the outbreak needs to be contained and limited to the smallest number possible .”
Assuming such security challenges can be overcome , medical data represents a potent force in the ongoing evolution of healthcare worldwide . While there are dangers of misuse , data , when used correctly , can demonstrably improve people ’ s lives , whether that ’ s machines learning from existing images of conditions to make diagnoses or the modelling of diseases to contain their spread .
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