Audit Trail and Node Authentication

Audit Trail and Node Authentication [ATNA] describes certificate-based node authentication and transmitting PHI-related audit events to a repository. This helps sites implement confidentiality policies.

Summary

The Audit Trail and Node Authentication (ATNA) Integration Profile establishes security measures which, together with the Security Policy and Procedures of the enterprise, provide patient information confidentiality, data integrity and user accountability.

ATNA requires the use of bi-directional certificate-based node authentication for connections to and from each node, and requires that events concerning PHI use are recorded and transmitted to a repository where they can be monitored to detect indications of inappropriate activity.

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Benefits

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Details

ATNA uses XYZ to carry audit messages formated as XML from the originating system to the audit repository etc etc.

Something about what Node authentication means and a couple details about what kind of certificates??

Other Domains extend the ATNA Profile by defining specific audit events and details relevant to their specific domain.

(From an email by Rob Horn)

We have done this only for profiles that were most critical (e.g. XDS, RFD, EUA, XUA). There is some interested in RID and PIX, we need help to create prioritized CP requests for clarity on profiles that the IHE community needs assistance with.

There is also some historical funny business. Originally HL7 was going to issue an HL7 side equivalent to DICOM's Supplement 95, but that lost sponsorship and got abandoned. So DICOM threw together some partial stuff to cover the immediate needs of the imaging community. It deals with only those HL7ish things that happen to DICOM equipment (like receiving orders). DICOM didn't attempt to handle the rest of the HL7 world. So the various IHE domains get creative in a variety of ways.

Systems Affected

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Actors & Transactions:

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Specification

Profile Status: Final Text <Replace "Final Text" with "Trial Implementation" or "Public Comment" as appropriate.>

Documents:

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IHE IT Infrastructure Technical Framework:

• Vol. 1 - Section 9 (ATNA Profile)
• Vol. 2 - Sections 3.16 and 3.17

IHE Radiology Technical Framework:

• repeat listing of Rad sections here or just point to Rad Option?
• DICOM Supplement 95 - Frozen

Underlying Standards:

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• HL7?
• Syslog?
• XML?
• ... The underlying RFC can be found at a variety of RFC repositories

See Also

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Related Profiles

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• Audit Trail and Node Authentication - Radiology Option defines Radiology-specific audit trail messages and security measures to ATNA.
• Cross-enterprise Document Sharing [XDS] depends on ATNA for ...
• ...

Consumer Information

The ATNA Profile FAQ Template answers typical questions about what the Profile does.

The Profile Purchasing Template describes considerations when purchasing equipment to deploy this Profile.

Implementer Information

Audit Trail and Node Authentication Implementation provides additional information about implementing this Profile in software. Specific questions about how to implement this profile can be found in the ATNA FAQ.

White Paper IHE Security and Privacy for HIE puts ATNA in context.

Reference Articles

Creating an IHE ATNA-Based Audit Repository, Gregg, B. et al, Journal of Digital Imaging, Vol. 19, Number 4, 2006, pp. 307-315

This page is based on the Profile Template