Privacy and Data Protection: Mission Impossible?

Abstract

Medical confidentiality is very important because it builds the fundament of trust between doctors and patients. In modern health services data protection is essential. But there are also other important security objectives, such as integrity and authenticity of medical data and health services, as their breach can potentially lead to life threatening conditions. State of the art security mechanisms are necessary to protect medical data and services and prevent attacks known as ``hacking''. They should include in particular cryptography, as you can usually rely on mathematics, more than in software security and access control mechanisms. As patients normally cannot assess the security of a service, security audits or certifications of health services should be provided to generate trust and confidence.