ΣΥΓΧΡΟΝΕΣ ΑΠΕΙΛΕΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΣ ΑΣΦΑΛΕΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΡΟΣΤΑΣΙΑΣ ΤΗΣ ΙΔΙΩΤΙΚΟΤΗΤΑΣ ΣΤΟ ΧΩΡΟ ΤΗΣ ΥΓΕΙΑΣ

Abstract

The present study addresses the controversial issue of identifying contemporary threats to safety and privacy in the field of health. Their recording and the depiction of their tackling contributes, on the one hand, to the development of a complete cybersecurity policy for the health care providers, on the other, to the finding of relevant important conclusions, which can be used in the context of the Greek Health System (ESY, private sector) and the Public Administration in general. For the research on this topic two scien-tific methods were used: Firstly, the literature research and review in the domestic and international literature on what exists in the field of cyber threats in healthcare systems. Secondly, by conducting interviews through open-ended questionnaires, referring to of-ficers in the Greek Health System, so as to provide opinions and quality data and to make a brief evaluation of the state of its cybersecurity levels and the degree of its legal com-pliance to current legislation, with GDPR as predominant. In the age of healthcare systems dependence on ICT, modern cyber threats can lead to the violation of both the security of its operation and medical data (privacy) in the Electronic Health Record of patients. Their consequences range from costly to catastrophic, the risk of patients’ lives, or even the cause of death. Amongst others, the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic is accompanied by an explosive increase in their frequency and complexity. However, there is an appropriate security policy to tackle them successfully. The Greek Health System presents satisfactory levels of security of its information systems and a sufficient degree of legal compliance as well, but there is still much room for improve-ment, mainly concerning organizational measures.