While AWS provides customers with infrastructure that can be configured in a AWS HIPAA compliance manner, it is up to your team to setup security measures and manage HIPAA regulations in the cloud. Many organizations ask the question of how to ensure HIPAA compliance in Amazon Web Services. AWS provides many of the resources needed for complying with HIPAA. Your team must figure out how to secure and manage the cloud services that suit your needs.
Parameter Store
SSM store or the Parameter Store refers to the parameter value encryption and decryption service you can use to secure your data management procedure. As you might already know, creating and storing data with parameter values is fundamental for data management and confidentiality. Setting up these parameters provides you with extensive security benefits. You can configure relevant permissions and security policies for multiple services and applications as required by HIPAA. The use of the Parameter Store guides you to change specific parameters so the potential errors that can occur when changing one parameter value can be eliminated.
Hierarchical storage is the main feature of the Parameter Store service, which is used to manage multiple data configurations. Whether you’re configuring the passwords or strings of database connections, the service caters to them all. When it comes to hierarchical storage implementation, tech companies can use these systems to develop small apps or software to cover limited services conveniently. This allows you to protect confidential and sensitive data transferred through database connection.
Parameter Store is one AWS HIPAA compliant service you can use to help achieve compliance. Parameter Store provides 3 main benefits. First, the service provides a reliable way to set necessary parameters for database protection. Second, the service is scalable and manageable in the web service environment. Third, this parameterizing service is actually free of charge and can be used extensively.
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)
Have you ever imagined how you can create relational databases in the cloud while making them manageable and scalable in their own environment? Relational database development can be tricky when it comes to cloud computing, and can potentially create security issues. When it comes to HIPAA compliance, teams can leverage the Amazon RDS service to develop industry standard relational databases that are secure, resizable, and manageable. With RDS your team can bring your major database platform/environment to the cloud.
The service is compatible with many familiar database technologies and provides extensive advantages to your team. First, the service provides accessibility to major database platform functionality. Second, it’s highly compatible with common tools and applications most HIPAA software developers are familiar with. Third, RDS enables your team to increase storage, scale-up databases, and manage resources, to accommodate your needs. Fourth, the integration of this service with related database languages makes it easy to address many database needs and preferences.
Healthcare information can be easily stored, managed and analyzed with the use of RDS relational databases. With the help of this service, you can implement HIPAA compliance standards with this service’s database engines. Healthcare companies managing protected health information (PHI) can configure RDS security and availability features such as encryption, redundancy, and network security standards. Overall, the RDS service provides healthcare teams with a database solution that can be configured to meet HIPAA compliance standards.
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
AWS has its own virtual private cloud (VPC) that enables users to set network settings and comply with the HIPAA security framework. Many major private cloud providers provide similar virtual services with their commercial cloud computing services. Amazon VPCoffers you extensive benefits and works as a fully scalable service . Your team can create an isolated environment while gaining full control over security configuration, from IP address to subnet creation. Application and database services can be placed in these private environments to set additional security settings and further enhance data security.
The virtual private cloud service has advanced features to ensure HIPAA compliance. You can setcontrol lists of users with network access and security groups. Two-layer filtering protocols cover multiple levels of operations. Next, data can be stored across cloud platform services such as Amazon EC2 or S3. This stored data is restricted, and only accessible through the use of this service. The virtual private cloud mechanism allows exclusive access for a specific session. VPCs can be connected to each other as well as to other network connections. Amazon VPCs enable your team to establish a secure connection for your cloud computing environment.AWS provides a cloud computing platform with virtual servers that can be easily configured, launched and managed within your environment. Your organization can launch applications and virtual machines without investing in any expensive supporting hardware. Storage management and security configuration are two major tasks simplified with this service. All infrastructure launched and provisioned with this service is easily scalable upward and downward. This means whenever your system experiences traffic fluctuations, your cloud application will be able to elastically follow the change. EC2 enables your team to leverage the speed, flexibility, and scalability of the AWS cloud.
EC2 accommodates different ranges of requirements. Whatever the size or budget of your computing needs, this service can help you to develop and deployHIPAA compliant applications. Teams can configure many applications and software solutions to run securely in EC2. As you might already know, ensuring compliance drives different challenges for different scales of companies. With the help of this cloud service, you can manage the scalability of your application and resources to meet the goals you want to achieve.
Overall, ensuring HIPAA compliance is a lot simpler with the help of AWS HIPAA compliant services and provided security configuration settings. When building a HIPAA compliant application, your team can utilize a number of AWS services and technologies to meet security standards. In general, using Amazon Web Services provides you with all the benefits you need; convenience, scalability, flexibility, and faster time-to-market.
