Top 10 Healthcare Cybersecurity Tips

The Secret Sauce – Digital Identity

Several factors have come together and are driving healthcare cybersecurity strategy to adapt. COVID-19 pushed everyone online, even those who typically wouldn’t go to their computer for answers. A recent study indicates that 61% of adults would like access to their medical records from a mobile device, showing the user transformation taking place.ⁱ The online purchasing experience reached a new height during the pandemic too. The average user is getting used to low-friction user experiences and getting answers at their fingertips. In response, healthcare organizations are making user experience a priority. A survey found that 59% of healthcare provider leaders indicated that patient access is the top digital transformation goal.ⁱⁱ

The advent of online consumerism has impacted healthcare, but so has the new world of data sharing that interoperability regulations are introducing to the world. Healthcare cybersecurity must adapt to a model that moves data from one place to sharing with many entities in the cloud.

It’s no longer easy to put your data under lock and key. What can healthcare organizations do to throw the balance toward user experience, while managing the risk of online transactions? Alongside the rest of the world, healthcare cybersecurity is making the digital transformation.

Technology has made it possible to identify online users based on digital identity attributes like IP address, online behavior and device ID. Identifying trusted users is great, but also identifying suspicious behavior greatly strengthens defenses.

People use different devices when they log into your site, but all users have a limited number of devices. Capturing the device ID allows you to compare to devices in login credentials of trusted users. This is an extra layer of authentication that is frictionless for trusted users.

Bad actors leave a tell, and if you want to find it, try looking at behavioral profiling. Over time, you probably know your typical trusted user online behavior. For example, if someone starts logging in 10 times a day when they used to log in once a week, that’s suspicious. Time since the first activity, since the last activity and average time between are effective behavioral factors to monitor. User location is also an important factor you can use to find suspicious login behavior. If someone lives in Kansas and is logging in from Europe within 3 hours of their last login – you can require further authentication.

A digital footprint leaves an abundance of evidence that healthcare organizations can use to increase protection and reduce friction. Using digital identity attributes is the heart of the next generation solutions and the healthcare cybersecurity digital transformation.

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