Business Continuity Management: Backup in Cloud PACS for greater cybersecurity

The PACS and the data stored in the PACS backup are usually integrated into the hospital network. In the event of a cyberattack, the entire facility is usually taken offline to prevent previously uncompromised systems from also being damaged, which means that access to the PACS backup is also lost. 

A cloud backup such as the TMD Cloud's long-term archive, on the other hand, is independent of the hospital network and can still be accessed via Internet hotspots reserved specifically for emergencies.

To become less dependent on PACS and thus better equipped to deal with cyberattacks, it may be advisable to separate the long-term archive for image data from PACS. For more information, please refer to the blog post “PACS & VNAs: Why hospitals should store data in a vendor-neutral manner.”

Reliable business continuity management is part of the requirements for healthcare facilities under KRITIS and NIS-2. As a central component of diagnostics and treatment, image data must therefore be explicitly considered in business continuity concepts in order to increase reliability and operational readiness.

In order to provide patients with the best possible treatment at all times—even in the event of a complete IT failure in the hospital—medical image data must be accessible at all times. 

Since a cyberattack usually requires all locally operated primary systems such as PACS or HIS/RIS to be shut down, healthcare facilities need alternative access options for treatment-critical image data. Cloud solutions such as Telepaxx's TMD Cloud offer such emergency access regardless of the existing IT infrastructure.

Read more about how you can increase cybersecurity in your hospital in our blog.

In order to be able to access the images stored in the TMD Cloud in an emergency, even during a complete IT failure, it is necessary to have a powerful mobile hotspot available for IT threat situations.

We would be happy to advise you on how to set up Internet access from the cloud via mobile hotspots as part of a business continuity management approach for image data. Please send us your request for a consultation using our contact form.

As part of the emergency plan, access to image data from the cloud is set up for selected end devices and users. This could be, for example, a suitably configured laptop in the emergency room that is connected to the mobile hotspot. Authorized users can use this hotspot to log in to the TMD Cloud web portal and retrieve and evaluate the stored DICOM data from the cloud.

One component of our BCM concept is access to DICOM data via the TMD Cloud Portal with integrated medical viewer. The user-friendly web interface displays all available patient images in a clear worklist, similar to a PACS, and allows the images to be opened directly in the browser using a certified medical web viewer.

In order to be able to retrieve medical image data from the cloud in the event of a security incident, this data must be stored in the cloud archive. This can be done in parallel with normal operations. In this case, the images are stored not only in the PACS archive but also in the cloud archive in accordance with jointly defined rules. Thanks to our software-neutral approach, this is possible in combination with all commercially available PACS systems. 

In addition, mobile hotspots and Internet-enabled devices (PCs, laptops, tablets) that are not connected to the hospital network must be provided. These can then be used to access the TMD Cloud in an emergency.

We would be happy to provide you with detailed technical requirements in a personal consultation. Please send us your request for a consultation using our contact form.

All data is stored in encrypted form in certified data centers in Germany. The geo-redundant storage of DICOM data ensures maximum reliability.

At Telepaxx, data and information security are our top priority. Here is an overview of our security measures:

• C5 certification (type 1) from the BSI (read our blog to find out why C5 certification is essential for hospitals)
• ISO 27001 certified processes
• end-to-end encryption
• multi-level access concept with authentication
• regular security audits

You can find further information on the topic of data security in the cloud in our blog—for example, in the article “Sovereign cloud in hospitals: How to strike a balance between data sovereignty and technological reality.”

Yes, new DICOM data can also be archived in the cloud during emergency operation via the configured emergency terminals.

We recommend conducting a complete emergency access test at least once a year. The TMD Cloud allows you to run simple test scenarios at any time without disrupting normal operations.