Healthcare digital identity solutions

The alarming frequency and severity of cyberattacks have created major challenges for healthcare organizations, and repercussions stretch well beyond IT department headaches. Digital identity solutions can help.

The playing field has shifted, and so has perspective: The American Hospital Association advises senior hospital leaders not to view cybersecurity as purely a technical issue falling solely under the domain of IT departments. Rather, it states that it’s critical to view cybersecurity as a patient safety, enterprise risk, and strategic priority, and to instill protection into the hospital’s overall enterprise, risk management, governance, and business continuity framework.

Fighting today’s battles with yesterday’s tactics

Adding to the above concern is the view of the National Library of Medicine, noting that many healthcare organizations lack the level of cybersecurity capability needed to defend against hackers and others looking to gain access to healthcare systems. Why? Key challenges include complexity, cost, and knowledge required to deal with the evolving approaches used by attackers.

As the healthcare sector continues its digital evolution, the imperative to fortify against cyber threats becomes not just a necessity – but a moral obligation – to protect patient data and ensure the integrity of healthcare systems.

Currently, many organizations take a network perimeter approach to cybersecurity, which focuses on stopping intruders before they get into a network. But as more sophisticated methods of penetrating a network are leveraged by attackers, using this strategy alone has become outdated and risky. Experts suggest that the most effective way to counter this trend is to adopt concepts such as Zero Trust.

Building a security foundation on Zero Trust

Zero Trust is based on the robust principles of digital identity. It challenges traditional cybersecurity principles by questioning the assumption of trust for all individuals with internal access in an organization, where many individuals in life sciences and healthcare organizations have access to sensitive data. The key question is whether they truly need this access. Zero Trust operates on the principle that trust is never assumed, and verification is required even for those inside the organization.

Certain access, known as birthright access, is provided to all employees, such as access to email or the HR portal. However, it’s important to note that granting admin rights to employees or giving them access to sensitive data when they don’t require it to perform their roles exposes them to social engineering attacks. One of the biggest security risks in the cyber landscape involves the potential misuse of privileged accounts. Recently, several incidents have come to light where nurses with admin rights in the hospital clicked on engineered emails, providing attackers with easy access to sensitive data.

There’s a need to adopt an agile and dynamic security foundation that’s resilient to organizational change and flexible enough to address the challenges faced by the modern life sciences and healthcare industry. A Zero Trust security model helps establish this security foundation, reducing cyber and data risks, and managing digital identities (both human and non-human).

Leveraging integrated digital identity solutions

So what does that look like? Robust digital identity solutions safeguard sensitive clinical and personal health records, along with business-critical infrastructure, from unauthorized access. They also shield the organization against security threats to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, minimize help desk calls, and automate lifecycle management processes for both the workforce and devices in healthcare organizations.

A robust digital identity program comprises three key components:

Identity governance and administration: Supports activities such as patient registration, employee onboarding, and conducting periodic access reviews and certifications

Access management: Focuses on providing and verifying access to data and applications based on roles within the organization

Privileged access management: Enables managing and tracking of elevated access to sensitive data and applications, such as patient records and clinical information systems

Engaging automation and AI support

While the above capabilities are pivotal, related technologies such as automation and AI play a big role in digital identity. Automation helps in managing access for various professionals within the organization, with a notable example being the deprovisioning of access on an employee’s last working day. This is particularly critical for certain areas with historically high attrition rates, such as nurses and research personnel. In addition, AI plays a crucial role in identifying behavioral patterns as part of access management to proactively identify potential threats.

Safeguarding the healthcare sector from cyber threats requires a well-coordinated, proactive approach. While perimeter defenses remain helpful, a robust digital identity program delivers more powerful safeguards needed to prevent breaches. The adoption of Zero Trust principles, coupled with advanced technologies, create a resilient cybersecurity framework that can withstand the ever-evolving challenges faced by the modern healthcare industry.

To learn more, request a demo on Imprivata digital identity solutions built for today’s healthcare challenges.