Risk Management Plan For Health Network

Risk Management Plan for Health Network

Scenario You Are An Information Technology It Intern Working For He

Scenario You Are An Information Technology It Intern Working For He

Scenario:- You are an information technology (IT) intern working for Health Network, Inc. (Health Network), a fictitious health services organization headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Health Network has over 600 employees throughout the organization and generates $500 million USD in annual revenue. The company has two additional locations in Portland, Oregon and Arlington, Virginia, which support a mix of corporate operations. Each corporate facility is located near a co-location data center, where production systems are located and managed by third-party data center hosting vendors. Company Products Health Network has three main products: HNetExchange, HNetPay, and HNetConnect.

HNetExchange is the primary source of revenue for the company. The service handles secure electronic medical messages that originate from its customers, such as large hospitals, which are then routed to receiving customers such as clinics. HNetPay is a Web portal used by many of the company’s HNetExchange customers to support the management of secure payments and billing. The HNetPay Web portal, hosted at Health Network production sites, accepts various forms of payments and interacts with credit-card processing organizations much like a Web commerce shopping cart. HNetConnect is an online directory that lists doctors, clinics, and other medical facilities to allow Health Network customers to find the right type of care at the right locations.

It contains doctors’ personal information, work addresses, medical certifications, and types of services that the doctors and clinics offer. Doctors are given credentials and are able to update the information in their profile. Health Network customers, which are the hospitals and clinics, connect to all three of the company’s products using HTTPS connections. Doctors and potential patients are able to make payments and update their profiles using Internet-accessible HTTPS Web sites. NOTE: Any discussion of products not a part of this scenario, such as health insurance products, will result in an automatic 50% reduction in points.

Your paper is not a research paper on risk management – it is a risk management plan to a very specific situation and must relate to the scenario, above. Information Technology Infrastructure Overview Health Network operates in three production data centers that provide high availability across the company’s products. The data centers host about 1,000 production servers, and Health Network maintains 650 corporate laptops and company-issued mobile devices for its employees. Threats Identified Upon review of the current risk management plan, the following threats were identified: • Loss of company data due to hardware being removed from production systems • Loss of company information on lost or stolen company-owned assets, such as mobile devices and laptops • Loss of customers due to production outages caused by various events, such as natural disasters, change management, unstable software, and so on • Internet threats due to company products being accessible on the Internet • Insider threats • Changes in regulatory landscape that may impact operations Management Request: Senior management at Health Network has determined that the existing risk management plan for the organization is out of date and a new risk management plan must be developed. Because of the importance of risk management to the organization, senior management is committed to and supportive of the project to develop a new plan. You have been assigned to develop this new plan. Additional threats other than those described previously may be discovered when re-evaluating the current threat landscape during the risk assessment phase. The budget for this project has not been defined due to senior management’s desire to react to any and all material risks that are identified within the new plan. Given the company’s annual revenue, reasonable expectations can be determined.

Paper For Above instruction

Introduction

The purpose of this risk management plan is to identify, evaluate, and mitigate potential threats to Health Network, Inc., a health services organization with a complex technology environment supporting critical healthcare operations. This organization, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, maintains over 600 employees, and operates across multiple locations, including Portland, Oregon, and Arlington, Virginia. Each location supports corporate functions and is strategically positioned near co-location data centers managed by third-party vendors, hosting approximately 1,000 production servers that underpin core products such as HNetExchange, HNetPay, and HNetConnect. These products facilitate secure electronic medical messaging, online payment processing, and medical directory services, respectively. Given the sensitive nature of health data and the reliance on internet-based services, the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of the organization’s information assets are critical. The infrastructure supports numerous web-based interactions via HTTPS, allowing hospitals, clinics, doctors, and patients to securely access and update personal, medical, and billing information. The plan aims to proactively identify risks, ensure regulatory compliance, assign clear roles for risk management responsibilities, and propose mitigation strategies to safeguard the organization’s assets and reputation.

Scope

This risk management plan encompasses all information technology resources, infrastructures, and processes involved in supporting Health Network's core products and operations. It includes physical data centers, servers, network devices, mobile devices, laptops, and cloud services associated with the hosting and management of critical applications. The scope extends to the protection of sensitive health data, financial transactions, and user profiles accessible via internet-facing web portals. It also covers internal and external threats, including hardware failures, theft of devices, internet threats such as hacking and malware, insider threats, as well as regulatory compliance issues related to health information privacy laws. The plan aims to be dynamic, allowing for the incorporation of new threats identified during risk assessments, ensuring comprehensive coverage across all operational facets.

Compliance Laws and Regulations

Health Network must adhere to various laws and regulations governing health information security and privacy. Most notably, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandates strict standards for protecting Protected Health Information (PHI), requiring implemention of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Additionally, the organization is subject to the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which incentivizes the adoption of security measures and enforces breach notification rules. State-level laws, such as Minnesota Data Privacy Laws and Oregon Health Privacy Laws, may impose additional requirements on the organization. Furthermore, compliance with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is mandatory for handling credit and debit card transactions through HNetPay. Ensuring compliance with these regulations is essential to avoid severe legal penalties, financial loss, and reputational damage, emphasizing the importance of integrating legal standards into risk mitigation strategies.

Roles and Responsibilities

Effective risk management requires clear delineation of responsibilities among various individuals and departments within Health Network. The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) oversees the overall risk management strategy, ensuring policies align with organizational goals and regulatory requirements. The IT Security Team executes risk assessments, vulnerability scans, and incident response plans, reporting directly to the CISO. Data Governance and Compliance Departments are responsible for ensuring adherence to legal and regulatory standards, conducting audits, and managing breach notifications. Data Owner roles, typically department heads managing sensitive health or financial data, are tasked with defining data classification and handling procedures. The IT Operations team maintains infrastructure security, implements patches, and ensures system availability. Finally, all employees, especially those in roles with access to sensitive data, must undergo regular security awareness training and follow established security protocols to mitigate insider threats and human error.

Risk Mitigation Plan

The risk mitigation strategy for Health Network must address the identified threats systematically, incorporating both preventive and detective controls. For data loss due to hardware removal or device theft, implementing comprehensive data encryption, strong access controls, remote wipe capabilities, and asset management procedures are essential. Physical security measures at data centers and critical facilities, including surveillance, badge access, and environmental controls, will protect against natural disasters and unauthorized physical access.

To counteract production outages stemming from software instability, change management processes should be formalized with rigorous testing and rollback plans. Regular backups, geographically dispersed disaster recovery sites, and high-availability architectures will increase resilience and minimize downtime. Internet threats due to external attacks can be mitigated through the deployment of advanced firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS), and continuous network monitoring. Implementing a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system will enable early threat detection and coordinated incident response.

Insider threats require a layered approach, including least privilege access policies, role-based access controls (RBAC), comprehensive personnel screening, and monitoring of user activities through audit logs. Employee training on security best practices and awareness of phishing and social engineering techniques will further strengthen defenses.

Emerging threats—such as increased regulatory requirements or new attack vectors—necessitate ongoing risk assessments and adaptive controls. Employing a proactive approach with threat intelligence feeds, vulnerability scanning, and penetration testing will ensure the organization remains vigilant against evolving risks.

Conclusion

Developing a robust risk management plan tailored to Health Network’s unique environment and regulatory landscape is essential to safeguard its assets, ensure compliance, and sustain operational continuity. By delineating clear roles and responsibilities, implementing comprehensive mitigation strategies, and fostering a culture of security awareness, the organization can effectively reduce its exposure to threats. Continuous assessment and adaptation of the risk management framework will enable Health Network to respond swiftly to new risks, preserving trust with its customers and stakeholders, and maintaining its competitive position in the healthcare industry.

References

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• HHS. (2013). Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
• ISO/IEC 27001:2013. (2013). Information technology — Security techniques — Information security management systems — Requirements.
• Ostroff, J., & Sprague, R. (2021). Implementing Data Privacy and Security in Healthcare. Healthcare Financial Management, 75(2), 44-51.
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