Cloud Computing in Healthcare - Investigation of Threats, Vulnerabilities, Future Challenges and Counter Measure

Abstract

The use of cloud computing has gradually increased over the last decade. Healthcare provision has become more scalable, efficient, and effective through the cloud-based healthcare paradigm. This flexibility of emerging computing services has opened many possibilities for health organizations that did not exist before. But with that, security and privacy concerns have also increased. With this massive rise and adoption of cloud architecture in healthcare, It's unclear how this paradigm shift is affecting the smart healthcare industry, which is varied, complicated, and distinctive. There is a need for auditing and evaluation of cloud services evolving in the health sector. In this paper, we explored the contemporary state and trends of healthcare by conducting a comprehensive survey to identify potential risks, vulnerabilities, and threats associated with the cloud computing platform. Moreover, cloud platforms like Secure G-Cloud, Pixel Conversion, tiers-based Cloud, and Cloud-of-Things have been discussed.  Finally, threats have been classified and mitigation, possible alternatives, and counter-stones have been proposed in order to eliminate identified threats.