Editorial -: The changing face of ehealth security

We are grateful to the Electronic Journal of Health Informatics (eJHI) for the opportunity to present this special issue on information security and electronic health-care systems. Electronic health record (EHR) systems are notoriously difficult to design, and designing secure EHR systems is an even harder task. Part of the difficulty lies in the fact that the actual electronic health record is not simply the conversion of paper records into a digitised form. The EHR is often a re-engineering of healthcare services as the design takes advantage of the ability to “push the boundaries" of healthcare [1]and to transform the approach to the cycle of patient care. The healthcare professions have a long history of prioritizing the confidentiality of patient data. These professions also have long understood the relationship between maintaining patient privacy and maintaining patient trust. The provision of healthcare takes place in fluid, complex environments where the ability to deliver patient care is dependent on the quality and availability of patient data as well as on the facilities and skills of the healthcare provider. For these reasons, information security and the delivery of healthcare is intimately linked and has proven to be a fascinating challenge when designing electronic healthcare systems.