Best Practices For Hipaa Compliant File Transfer Protocols

Are you looking for the transfer of sensitive health data?

Here is the complete guide for you!

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is the strict standard to safeguard the electronic protected health information (ePHI) during its transfer. FTPS, SFTP and HTTPS are among the most secure options and all of them offers authentication, encryption and logging to meet the standards of HIPAA.

The selection of right protocol is dependent on the needs of the customer. The HTTPS is used for user-facing tools, SecureFTP site for the back-end automation and FTPS is for the legacy systems. It is always mandatory to ensure detailed logging, strong encryption and appropriate authentication to balance the compliance.

1. SFTP

Secure FTP site encrypts the data and commands by utilizing the SSH. This is best for the automated transfers carrying single port simplicity and strengthened key enabled authentication. Not like the other FTP protocols that unprotect the data, the SFTP encrypts whole session and makes it reliable option to transfer the ePHI securely.

·         Encryption strength – SFTP leverages the SSH for encryption by utilizing AES-128 or AES-256 for protection of data confidentiality along with HMAC-SHA2 to ensure data integrity. Whereas, HIPAA industry recommends AES-256 for protection of data both at rest and in-transit.

·         Authentication options – HIPAAcompliant FTP recommends key enabled authentication utilizing SSH public keys. HIPAA focused Secure FTP site provide features like IP allow-listing, role based access control and directory service integration for meeting access control requirements.

2. FTPS

The HIPAA compliant FTPS are built on the conventional FTP protocol by addition of SSL encryption, changing the insecure FTP in the safest option to transmit ePHI.

·         Encryption strength – the FTP hosting services utilize similar TLS mechanism as HTTPS and allows the administrators to implement stringent certificate validation procedures including check of certificate validity dates, verifying CN/SAN fields and confirming the revocation status using CRL or OCSP.

·         Authentication options – the FTP hosting services supports different authentication ways including TLS client certificates, password or username combos, and incorporation with directory services such as LDAP or Active Directory. Best practices for HIPAA compliant standards include the implementation of MFA for the remote or privileged access and using certificate based service accounts to mediate the credential theft risks.

3. HTTPS

It secures the web traffic standard by utilizing the encrypted tunnel which makes it the preferred protocol for the clinician dashboards, patient portals and app to app exchange that carries ePHI. It is compatible with all mobile apps and browsers and allows secure exchange without any additional tool.

·         Encryption strength – the HTTPS relies on the TLS for data protection while traveling. The companies must implement TLS 1.2 or 1.3 and disable the outdated protocols such as SSL, TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1. The server configuration must enable strong cipher suites including AES-128 or AES-256 with GCM mode and utilize the curve key exchange along with disabling the weak ciphers.

·         Authentication options – the HTTPS carries multi-layered authentication for securing access to ePHI. For implementation, healthcare systems need user password combos with enforced complexity along with multi-factor authentication to minimize the credential theft risk.