Cloud storage in Health: Privacy Concerns ?

  • This term sounds nice and it gives the impression of some satellite wireless communication breezing in the air !
  • However truth is more prosaic and down to the earth: the cloud is in fact nothing more than interconnected servers in data centers interconnected by cables.
  • It basically works by granting access to the cloud in exchange of a subscription fee.
  • Files can be viewed from anywhere and access can be shared with other users.
  • Examples include dropbox and amazon cloud (the biggest)
  • Storage capacity is awesome: I got 2 terabytes and in 5 years of usage, I only used 2%
  • There is a flip of the coin and this concerns the privacy of medical data.
    • Does anyone else have access to work on it ?
    • Is anonymization taking place without anyone knowing.
    • Are the database free from uncontrolled access through hacking, error or other deliberate actions ?

Reference: Big Data: A very short introduction by Dawn E. Holmes. Oxford University Press, 2017

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