title: Deployment of a highly secure clinical data repository in an insecure international environment.
abstract: We have designed and deployed a novel approach to protecting Personal Healthcare Information in environments where a data center is remote and its physical security cannot be assured. Our "KeyServer" methodology uses a server-client-server architecture to dynamically serve keys from a distant server in a separate secure data center in the US. The approach combines pre-existing and novel techniques into a layered protective barrier around compromise of patient data. We describe how this technology provides scalable security that makes security breaches highly unlikely. With some careful planning a Clinical Data Repositories fed by Electronic Health Records can be placed in relatively insecure settings, with a high-level of security surrounding data theft, even in the event of hardware theft. Such security architecture is ideal for not only developing nations, but for the evolution of health information to cloud computing platforms.
authors.affiliation: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. hfeldman@bidmc.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: Shane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reti
authors.forename: Eli
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kaldany
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Safran
mesh_terms: D016494:Computer Security; D016208:Databases, Factual; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet