The explosion of health IT tools and technology has vastly improved healthcare efficiency and access, but it has also led to large-scale privacy and security issues, making healthcare organizations increasingly susceptible to cyberattacks.
While the number of data incidents involving external attacks is on the rise, in 2018, healthcare data breaches perpetrated by insiders outnumbered those from external sources, according to a Verizon report. Fifty-six percent of data breach incidents reported by healthcare organizations were attributed to insiders last year. Often, this stems from not taking access precautions, such as ensuring an employee cannot access the organization's systems once they have left.
It is key that healthcare organizations develop protocols around employee access and identity management to mitigate the number of breaches caused by insiders. An integrated identity and access management platform can help organizations in this regard, particularly if the platform allows it to automate governance, risk management and compliance, according to a blog post by Wes Wright, chief technology officer at Imprivata. These tools can help organization leaders see who has access to applications as well as the authorizations they may have. Thus, organizations are in the know about who is accessing their data and whether they are allowed to.
In a webinar hosted by Becker's Hospital Review at 1 p.m. June 26, four thought leaders will gather to discuss access and identity management, including governance requirements specific to healthcare and how organizations can mitigate risk of security breaches from internal sources and non-employees.
The thought leaders include Mr. Wright; Connie Barrera, chief information security officer at Jackson Health System in Miami; Jake Dorst, chief information and innovation officer at Tahoe Forest Hospital System in Truckee, Calif.; and Phil Curran, chief information and assurance officer and chief privacy officer at Cooper University Health Care in Camden, N.J.
"I'm excited to see what our other panelists' opinions are on using identity and access management as a defensive weapon in their cyber security battles and hope our viewers can take some lessons on how they can do the same," said Mr. Wright.
Click here to learn more and register.