Every healthcare facility in Australia—whether a small clinic or a large hospital—is responsible for protecting patient data. But moving that data to the cloud isn’t simple. Healthcare organisations must keep it safe from breaches and cyberattacks while following strict privacy laws like the My Health Records Act 2012.
Cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services (AWS) offer secure, reliable environments built to protect patient information, even during migration. With help from an AWS partner like WOLK, your organisation can move to the cloud confidently and stay protected at every step.
Why Patient Data Security Is a Challenge During Migration
Moving patient data to the cloud—whether you’re setting up a new healthcare organisation or upgrading existing systems—requires careful planning and full compliance with Australian privacy laws. Along the way, there are several security risks to manage:
- Data integrity. When moving to new systems, healthcare organisations must keep patient records accurate and complete, with no data loss, corruption, or formatting errors during the transfer.
- Interception risk. Legacy systems leave security gaps—67% of healthcare data breaches stem from malicious attacks, many of which target data in transit during migration.
- Access controls. During migration, only approved staff should be able to access patient data. Weak or misconfigured controls can lead to data leaks, unauthorised access, or loss.
- Caregiving service disruptions. Migration must not interrupt access to patient records. If data becomes unavailable at the wrong time, it can delay care and affect patient outcomes.
How an AWS Expert Can Help Address Healthcare Migration Risks
AWS provides a wide range of services to help make the migration process as secure as possible. The data security experts at WOLK can assess your needs and design a safe migration process with the right AWS services.
- Define and enforce permissions. Using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), WOLK helps you assign roles so only the right staff can access patient data. The system automatically enforces these permissions to keep access secure.
- Move databases safely. With AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), you can migrate complete databases to the cloud and convert them to modern formats. We can also guide you through the service’s data replication features to maintain high availability and avoid service disruptions.
- Encrypt sensitive data. AWS Key Management Service (KMS) lets you create and manage encryption keys to protect patient data from unauthorised access, whether at rest or in transit.
- Regulatory compliance. Under the My Health Records Act 2012, storing or moving sensitive health records outside Australian borders is unlawful. The WOLK team can help you configure your AWS environment in Australian AWS data centres, keeping your organisation compliant.
Transition to the Cloud Successfully With WOLK
The Melbourne-based team at WOLK specialises in helping hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare entities transition to Amazon Web Services. Contact our AWS team today to discuss your cloud migration needs.