IT_Security

  Healthcare organizations don’t have the luxury of treating password security as an ordinary IT policy. A compromised employee credential can become a pathway into electronic protected health information (ePHI), email, EHR systems, cloud applications, file shares, administrative systems, and other sensitive resources. That’s why HIPAA password security should be approached as part of a broader identity and access security strategy—not simply as a rule requiring employees to add a number and special character to their passwords. The HIPAA Security Rule requires covered entities and business associates to implement appropriate safeguards for protecting ePHI. Current HIPAA technical safeguards include unique user identification and person or entity authentication, while automatic logoff and encryption/decryption are among the addressable access-control specifications. At the same time, modern identity-security guidance has moved toward longer passwords or passphrases, breached-passwo...