How New Mobile App Technology Can Bring Higher Levels of Security to eHealth

 

You get a phone call. Or an email. Or a text alert.

 

Someone has breached your health insurer’s security and has stolen your confidential information—confidential information your mother doesn’t even know about. And now it’s in the hands of a cybercriminal who’s willing to sell it to the highest bidder.

 

Data breaches are a body blow to the growing eHealth industry that uses information and communication technologies to support health and health-related fields.

 

It’s a body blow to HIPAA, the law passed to protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information.

 

It’s a body blow to HITRUST, a common security framework (CSF) used by organizations that create, access, store or exchange sensitive and/or regulated data.

 

And you’re not too thrilled about it either.

 

How to avoid healthcare data breaches

One powerful solution for avoiding data breaches is making logins easier and more secure.

 

Studies show 76% of all data breaches involve compromised login information that gives cybercriminals access to data that should be secure. No matter how good cyber security is, passwords remain the weak link.

 

Most passwords are notoriously feeble, taking only seconds to break, providing cybercriminals a path to your most private health records and other sensitive information.

 

And almost every login procedure requires your user name and password.

 

One obvious solution is to eliminate passwords.

 

A new mobile solution does just that. It transforms your phone into your digital identity.

 

Its technology incorporates commercial-grade multi-factor authentication that allows you to log in with just your fingerprint. This also simplifies the login process because, unlike passwords, you’ll never lose or forget your fingerprint.

 

As a result, there’s nothing for cybercriminals to steal. The system doesn’t store any PHI or PII data. So even if hackers break in, they can’t steal any patient information for the simple reason that it doesn’t exist.

 

The technology also offers the same security for mobile eHealth payments because your credit card information never passes through the healthcare company’s network, which significantly reduces PCI requirements.

 

Since the app doesn’t send any PHI or credit card information, it is an ideal complement for HIPAA and HITRUST as well as PCI.

 

The high cost of data breaches

Will the new app eliminate all data breaches? No.

 

However, by bringing the highest level of security to mobile access, it makes accessing eHealth data exponentially more secure.

 

This is especially important when you consider the average cost of a breach is approximately $200 per patient. For a healthcare company with 2 million patients, a data breach can cost upwards of $400 million.

 

Can any security vendor afford to pay this restitution?

 

Because the new mobile technology does not store any PHI or PII, it protects against the risk of a large reimbursement or financial ruin, making access more secure than traditional login. And if you don’t have a password, it can't be stolen.

 

For more information, contact Jack Bicer, Founder and CEO, SEKUR.Me, Santa Ana, Calif.  -- email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.