The right single sign-on (SSO) solution can resolve your password management issues. However, some SSO solutions raise as many issues as they promise to solve—the cost of purchase can be quite high, and the complexity of implementation and management can overwhelm IT departments. As you start your SSO vendor evaluation process, it’s important to know what questions to ask to ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the complete solution including product features and functionality, implementation and deployment, and ongoing management. Sample questions across important categories include...…

I was reading the recent security breach news about Lesmany Nunez, a former IT administrator who was recently sentenced to a year and one day in federal prison for computer fraud. Mr. Nunez was an employee at Miami-based Quantum Technology Partners (QTP) and three months after his employment ended, he was still able to access the company’s network with an administrator password. What he did then was break into QTP’s servers, shut them down, change the system administrators’ passwords and erase files, all of which ended up costing QTP more than $30,000.…

I've had a few conversations lately tied around the topic of the insider threat in the financial services arena, so I figured I'd scan around the Web to see what's out there and came across an interesting InfoWorld article. Though it is from last Fall, it hits on a number of concerns that are timely now, especially given the major breaches like Societe Generale. The article reports on a Deloitte study that highlights two major data points that I want to call out:…

The Digital Healthcare Conference 2010 occurred last week in Madison, WI, under the theme of “Healthcare IT in transition.” Imprivata Chief Medical Officer Dr. Barry P. Chaiken served as the conference chair for this event, which boasted an impressive agenda that kicked off with KLAS Founder and Chairman Kent Gale exploring the obstacles to physician adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs). Gale’s “Top Ten” list highlighted common things that stand in the way of EMR adoption, and the takeaway from the entire session aimed to get attendees to see how establishing transparent workflow can lead to physicians truly embracing EMRs.…

The HIMSS Virtual Conference occurred this week, covering myriad of topics ranging from Electronic Health Records (EHRs), impact of the HITECH Act, workflow optimization as well as privacy and security in the cloud for healthcare systems. One presentation that readers of this blog may find useful was that from Box Butte General Hospital on Nov. 4 at 9:00am CT (you can register on the site for access; HIMSS members can already access it online). Here’s a brief synopsis from the session description highlighting what was covered in the presentation...…

Late last year, California enacted a new state law to help notify patients of potential breaches of their personally identifiable health information, requiring healthcare organizations to report suspected incidents of data breaches. The initial results are in, and it’s not pretty. According to the Journal of the American Health Information Management Association, California officials have received more than 800 reports of potential health data breaches in the first five months since the laws went into effect on January 1st. Of the 122 cases that have been investigated, 116 have been confirmed assecurity breaches. Officials expect the numbers to grow as more organizations put in the processes to report potential breaches.…

While the concept of cloud computing (accessing applications online) has been around for close to a decade, talks on the subject have intensified significantly in recent months. The catalysts to these discussions range from the sharp decline in hardware and network infrastructure costs to the desire for a business to 'go green' to the need for accessibly by an increasingly distributed workforce. Whatever the reason, big business has taken notice and as this interest turns into action, these companies must be prepared to look at all of the key issues around this move before taking action.…

There's a lot of news and opinions on the web as the blogosphere continues to grow. As a result, the web can be overwhelming on one hand and full of wonder on the other as you sort and click through the rabbit hole of conversations on the other side. In light of this, I thought I would provide a short list of great blogs and resources that I follow from the identity management circles that are worth checking out and engaging with:…

A couple of weeks ago I moderated a Healthcare IT News webinar session that examined how hospitals today make patient data easily and securely accessible throughout the clinical workflow. I was joined by Dr. Zafar Chaudry, CIO of Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust & Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation trust and Dr. Lawrence Losey, Pediatrician, Chief of Pediatrics and Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO) for Parkview Adventist Medical Center. The session addressed the clinical workflow, process and technology behind providing fast, secure access to patient data, touching on all the areas within a hospital where a workstation sits and from anywhere a clinician may need access.…

This week, I took part in Network World’s annual real-life scary security stories podcast, a panel hosted by Keith Shaw that looks at some of the most frightful security incidents over the past year. This year, I focused on some of the data security incidents that are becoming all too common in the healthcare industry.…

Back in January, I shared some of my observations on 2009 Priorities for identity management in the new economic reality people are faced with - productivity, security and manageable IT projects. This year’s economics have forced people to do more with less, manage tighter budgets and maintain enterprise security while dealing with re-orgs and layoffs. While 2008 was the worst year to date for data breaches, 2009 hasn’t been much better if you look at this chronology of data breaches, including the recently disclosed incident at Goldman Sachs. The Identity Theft Resource Center keeps tabs as well, and has a nice snapshot of high-profile data breaches. Many of these are the result of unauthorized access, some combined with placing malicious code on servers or laptops to siphon off data. It’s amazing the methods that are being used to access systems, steal data, sometimes extort money and always damage reputations. Potential impact of the Goldman Sachs’s unauthorized upload of proprietary software is still under investigation, but information on how easy it was to pull off makes for scary reading. Given the potential impact of data breaches, there has been significant progress made to tighten access to systems, so let’s review some of the relevant things that are happening in identity management. Following are three areas, I believe, we need to watch for in the latter half of 2009...…

Strong authentication can come in a variety of forms, each with it's own unique strengths and weaknesses. Before selecting a type of strong authentication, think about the following:…

Insider threat is among the biggest challenges security folks face in 2008. The perimeter is dissolving with increased reliance on distributed computing and the mobile workforce, making it more difficult than ever to put up definitive walls around the enterprise. It's a simple reality that we all have to deal with. Check out last month's 2008 Global Information Security Workforce Study conducted by Frost & Sullivan for ISC(2) and SearchSecurity.com's coverage. Two-factor authentication using biometrics as well as physical-logical convergence will gain speed in dealing with the insider threat.…

The highlight of today was undoubtedly the customer panel in the session Healthcare and the Journey to the Cloud- State of the Industry.…

There' s been a lot of talk and focus on the Meaningful Use provisions of the HITECH Act. I worry that we're becoming too focused on the details of Meaningful Use, and losing the bigger picture. The government instituted the Meaningful Use criteria and incentives because they believe that electronic medical records can improve quality of care and access to care – but only if the EMR solutions are actually deployed and used. Hence Meaningful Use.…

Many agencies that I’ve spoken to are not aware of the Advanced Authentication requirements of the FBI CJIS Security Policy 5.6.2.2 and are therefore not aware that they may be in breach of this requirement. This video will quickly enable you to find out whether you may be in breach and how Imprivata can put you back in compliance.…

Last month, Kristi Roose from Mahaska Health Partnership joined me for a live webinar that discussed deploying SSO and Strong Authentication, and the steps you can take to get to Meaningful Use faster. If you missed the webinar, you won't want to miss this -- we've gone ahead and transcribed our answers from the Q&A session. Question 1: How long did it take to roll a unit out to all the departments and how long did it take to see acceptance to the change? Answer: We approached these rollouts one unit at a time, and the time frame depended on the number of users. Usually it took about 1-2 weeks per unit to make sure that everyone was comfortable with the product. Once the unit was rolled out acceptance was immediate; customers were grateful for the product and relieved to be able to access data more easily. It was a relief for their workflow. …

Day 2 is now in full swing at VMworld 2011. We had a very busy Day 1 yesterday. While the show attendance was clearly impacted by Irene, it sure feels like there are 15,000+ VMworld attendees here in sunny Vegas.…

I’m extremely excited about our participation in this year’s show particularly the opportunity to demonstrate the results of our collaboration and integration with some of our partners. Imprivata is working in conjunction with VMware, Teradici, Dell, and VCE to showcase our joint solutions, which showcase VMware View serving up virtual desktops,…

Professional Services are not something that should only be considered during the initial implementation of Imprivata OneSign. As our customer base has grown through the years, we’ve seen their personnel come and go, departments change, infrastructure develop and new technology appear. What doesn’t change is the need to provide simple secure access even though regulations get more rigorous and security threats become greater.…