| [November 19, 2008] |
 |
CREDANT Technologies Releases Results from Healthcare Security Survey
DALLAS --(Business Wire)--
CREDANT Technologies, the market leader in mobile data protection solutions, today announced the findings from its survey on mobile device use by over 1,000 healthcare professionals in the United States and the United Kingdom. The results show that data on over 93% of U.S. devices are at risk of exposure.
The transatlantic survey was conducted by CREDANT Technologies with Outpatient Surgery Magazine subscribers in the U.S. and E-Health Insider readers in the U.K. Respondents included physicians, nurses, surgeons, medical staff, and others within the healthcare sector.
Respondents were consistent with other recent studies that show accelerated use of mobile devices in the workplace. The most common mobile devices used by survey participants are laptops and wireless handheld devices such as BlackBerrys. Most of these devices are company owned (66.9% in the U.S.; 78% in the U.K.). But the lack of data security and potential violation of security policies set up by companies is cause for concern.
Among the U.S. findings:
49% of healthcare practitioners with mobile devices download patient data � records, medical images, and other identifiable information � onto them, which could be a breach of HIPAA security laws if the data is not properly encrypted.
Almost three quarters of respondents (71.7%) depend only on passwords to protect data. Weak security leaves these users vulnerable to hackers, spammers, and identity thieves.
Over 13% have lost, or know someone who has lost a device that contained confidential information. Consequently, over 21% have no confidence in the security of their mobile devices.
Results in the U.K. were similar, even with stricter security standards than followed in America. Due to their more stringent measures, over 36% of the U.K. devices are encrypted. For U.S. respondents, it was only 6.8%.
Michael Callahan, VP Global Marketing for CREDANT Technologies believes the survey demonstrates a need for better security education and increased security measures worldwide to prevent data loss or theft on mobile devices.
"Obviously, the medical community has a responsibility to protect patient data. It would serve the sector well for IT departments to implement a data-centric security solution like CREDANT Mobile Guardian that includes policy enforcement and centralized management and reporting to limit exposure and protect data on these devices," said Callahan.
To help better secure mobile devices, CREDANT Technologies recommends the following actions:
1. Encrypt data on every device
2. Purchase a security solution that can automatically detect, apply policy, and control mobile devices that connect to and through a desktop or laptop
3. Ensure the security solution is transparent to end users and doesn't interfere with normal operations
4. The security solution must enable IT administrators to centrally manage, set and enforce data encryption policies
Over 66% of survey respondents cited convenience and ease of use for using their mobile devices. As their use becomes more commonplace in the healthcare sector, Callahan emphasizes the need for a proactive response. "It's hard to overprotect a device. Not protecting it, however, can cause serious consequences, including felony thefts or monetary damage from noncompliance with regulations."
For a copy of the full findings of the "mobile device usage in the healthcare sector" survey contact Shar Carpenter at press@credant.com.
About CREDANT Technologies
CREDANT® Technologies is the market leader in endpoint data protection solutions. CREDANT's data security solutions mitigate risk, preserve customer brand, and reduce the cost of compliance, enabling business to "protect what matters." CREDANT Mobile Guardian is the only centrally managed endpoint data protection solution providing strong authentication, intelligent encryption, usage controls, and key management for data recovery. By aligning security to the type of user, device, and location, CREDANT permits the audit and enforcement of security policies across all computing endpoints. Strategic partners and customers include leaders in finance, government, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, technology, and services. CREDANT has been recognized by Inc. magazine as the #1 fastest growing security software company in 2008 and 2007; was selected by Red Herring as one of the top 100 privately held companies and top 100 Innovators; and was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2005. Austin Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Crescendo Ventures, Intel Capital (NASDAQ:INTC), and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) are investors in CREDANT Technologies. For more information, visit www.credant.com.
About Outpatient Surgery Magazine
Outpatient Surgery Magazine serves as a meeting place and a marketplace for decision makers in facilities where ambulatory surgery is done. The magazine facilitates the exchange of ideas, advice, experiences and information between surgical facility management team members. It also delivers relevant info and advice from experts, professional advisors, industry, and others. http://www.outpatientsurgery.net/
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East, January 20-22, 2010. Miami, FL.
