Required Abstract for Efficient disaster recovery (Need Abstract by tomorrow)

Srikar Ponnapalli

Physical protection for your database

Database Security Project proposal

Abstract

The physical protection of a centralized database (CDB) is important for any organization or institution that relies heavily on computerized systems. Health institutions lie within this category due to the fact they use several integrated computerized systems. When talking about physical protection of databases we refer to the physical location that a centralized database, the security measures or protocols to protect the CDB from access by unauthorized personnel and the protection of the CDB from either malicious or non-malicious destruction. This project will look at the physical protection measures of central databases in health institutions with the aim of establishing whether the measures or protocols are good enough to ensure that data breaches do not happen while at the same time ensure that there is data integrity should a natural disaster like a tornado hit a health organization. The study will focus on three major health institutions in the area where phenomenological and grounded research methods will be used to gather information on the database security protocols in place. In addition, case studies of three other major health institutions spread across the nation will help provide information on the state of physical database security in the health sector.

Statement of need

Many of the times, protection of computerized system and databases concentrates on providing security against unauthorized access, however, that is not the only threat that the above-mentioned items are at risk of. There are times that nature goes against its norm and disrupts the human way of living. In such a situation, the things that are used to make life easy and more bearable get destroyed. It is for the above reason, that organizations more so organizations that offer basic needs for human beings to have an extra layer of security to ensure business continuity and service provision continues in the wake of a natural disaster. Proper physical securing of central databases is critical for business continuity.

Project activity

The project will take on a qualitative approach where the case study method, the grounded theory, and the phenomenological method will be used. Through the use of the case study method, three studies on the physical security of hospital databases in the US will be studied with the aim of establishing whether the security protocols in place would allow most hospitals to survive and continue service provision should a natural disaster affect them. In the use of the grounded theory, IT managers and their assistants from three major hospitals will be interviewed with the aim of gathering information on whether the security protocols in place are good enough to ensure that normal operations of their hospitals would happen if the hospitals were hit by a natural disaster. In the use of the phenomenological method, site visits to the three major hospitals will be conducted to check the security protocols in place to physically secure the central databases of the hospitals.

The main purpose of the project will be to establish the role of physical database security not only for health institutions but generally in all fields.

Annotated reference list

Sametinger, J., Rozenblit, J. W., Lysecky, R. L., & Ott, P. (2015). Security challenges for medical devices. Commun. ACM, 58(4), 74-82.

The article looks at the security challenges in the medical sector due to interoperability and the reliance on medical computerized devices. The article mentions that the use of medical devices is particularly hard if connections to health databases are not present are not secured. According to the article compromised devices or systems pose a threat to the provision of health services.

I believe that this source of information for the project is a good source for two main reasons. The first reason is that the source is aligned with the project study; it deals with the medical field and at the same time deals with medical devices and systems. The second reason is that the source is a study conducted by researchers from various parts of the world so their information on the study area not only represents the state of affairs in the US but the whole worlds’.

Zhang, Y., Qiu, M., Tsai, C. W., Hassan, M. M., & Alamri, A. (2017). Health-CPS: Healthcare cyber-physical system assisted by cloud and big data. IEEE Systems Journal, 11(1), 88-95.

The article looks at the use of cloud storage and the use and big data analytics technologies as alternatives for database storage as opposed to the use of physical databases or physical servers to house the databases. The article recognizes the challenges in securing data more so patient-related data in hospitals.

This particular source of information is perfect for the issue that will be addressed in the project. The article recognizes that there are challenges in physical securing data in the health sector and offers solutions for the challenges. The second reason as to why the source is reliable is because the article is less than five years old.

Wagner, J., Rasin, A., Glavic, B., Heart, K., Furst, J., Bressan, L., & Grier, J. (2017). Carving database storage to detect and trace security breaches. Digital Investigation, 22, S127-S136.

The article is on research done by seven researchers who concentrated on looking at the measures in place in database storage to ensure that data security is in place and that data integrity is maintained. The article explores the various options in database management systems that lead to the security of data in case of any type of breach.

The above article is somewhat important for the project based on the fact that it deals with database storage security and database management systems. The challenging aspect of using this article for the study is that it does not touch on database security in health institution or generally in the health industry, nevertheless, the article touches on DBMS generally.

Munir, K. (2015, June). Security model for cloud database as a service (DBaaS). In 2015 International Conference on Cloud Technologies and Applications (CloudTech) (pp. 1-5). IEEE.

The article concentrates on cloud database as a service as this is the currently used model of data storage for complex organizations or institutions that cannot work with downtimes. The article explores the use of cloud services as options for database management and data storage as opposed to the traditional use of physical servers to house data.

The article is quite impressive and useful for the project considering that it explores the most modern way as well as the cheapest way of data storage. The article does not touch on the health sector but it does touch on the use of cloud storage for all kind of industries. In addition, the article is useful considering it is less than five years old.

Arghandeh, R., Von Meier, A., Mehrmanesh, L., & Mili, L. (2016). On the definition of cyber-physical resilience in power systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 58, 1060-1069.

The article published in 2016, looks at how institutions in America are prepared in terms of handling natural disasters affecting cyber functions and other supporting functions. The article concentrates on the negative effects of storms in disrupting business and organization operations more so the organizations that rely heavily on a computerized system for their daily running or functioning.

The article is a good source of information bearing in mind that it is relevant since it is less than five years old and it touches on the effects of natural disasters in business and organizational functions. The article looks at the field of health as well as the business field. It looks at the consequences of the disruption of cyber functions which is in line with what the project at hand is interested in.