A Global Cybersecurity Standardization Framework for Healthcare Informatics

Healthcare has witnessed an increased digitalization in the post-COVID world. Technologies such as the medical internet of things and wearable devices are generating a plethora of data available on the cloud anytime from anywhere. This data can be analyzed using advanced artificial intelligence techniques for diagnosis, prognosis, or even treatment of disease. This advancement comes with a major risk to protecting and securing protected health information (PHI). The prevailing regulations for preserving PHI are neither comprehensive nor easy to implement. The study first identifies twenty activities crucial for privacy and security, then categorizes them into five homogeneous categories namely: complement1 (Policy and Compliance Management), complement2 (Employee Training and Awareness), complement3 (Data Protection and Privacy Control), complement4 (Monitoring and Response), and complement5 (Technology and Infrastructure Security) and prioritizes these categories to provide a framework for the implementation of privacy and security in a wise manner. The framework utilized the Delphi Method to identify activities, criteria for categorization, and prioritization. Categorization is based on the Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN), and prioritization is performed using a Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The outcomes conclude that complement3 activities should be given first preference in implementation and followed by complement1 and complement2 activities. Finally, complement4 and complement5 should be implemented. The prioritized view of identified clustered healthcare activities related to security and privacy, are useful for healthcare policymakers and healthcare informatics professionals.