Security and Privacy in Distributed Health Care Environments

Abstract

There is an increasing demand for distributed health care systems. Nevertheless, distributed health care environments do not come without risks. At the same time that distributed health care systems are growing, so are the cybersecurity threats targeting them. Additionally, the demand for compliance to new regulations increases as these distributed health caresystemshold sensitivepatientdata. Theuseofdata-driven technologies presents a promising opportunity for significant advances in the field toward improved health care for patients and the general public.1,2 Several recent studies have highlighted the importance and the necessity of developing a data-driven approach where patient data are collected, analyzed, and leveraged for medical research purposes with the help of different types of artificial intelligence. To address the privacy-related challenges, novel methods, such as protection of personal health information, ensuring compliance, guaranteeing FAIR information processing, and building of trust, are required. In this issue, newparadigmsandprominent applications are presented for secure, trustworthy, and privacy-preserving data sharing and knowledge representation to address the emerging needs.