Healthcare IT at risk from security-agnostic #GenMobile side effects

26-Nov-2015

Study shows over a third of healthcare professionals regularly share their passwords, assuming IT departments will ‘have it covered’

Healthcare organisations are ill prepared for the high-risk mind-set of the #GenMobile workforce, with a lack of security procedures in place to protect a new, more-collaborative digital generation entering the workforce.

A mobile technology-driven hospital or clinic will become the de-facto model for the healthcare industry

The security threat study revealed that, overall, employee attitudes are swaying towards a more security-agnostic healthcare workplace, full of risk-prone sharing behaviours, with the trend having the potential to be contagious.

In an industry where more than a third - 36% - of healthcare professionals report that their organisation uses mobile apps to interact with patients, only three quarters of work mobile devices are password protected. The study of over 1,000 healthcare workers worldwide goes on to highlight three key trends that show how #GenMobile is paving the way for risk-prone behaviour in the medical industry:

• Sharing is becoming the norm: Over half - 55% - share their work and personal devices with others regularly. Close to a fifth of employees don’t have passwords on either work or personal devices, with 19% of those stating they don’t have security measures in place so they can share more easily
• Security-agnostic attitudes are rising: Of those employees who do not have password protection, close to half said it was because they weren’t worried about the threat. 89% of healthcare employees assume their IT department will keep them protected. However, over a quarter - 28% - have lost data due to the misuse of a mobile device. More worryingly, 37% of healthcare have given up work device passwords to colleagues, family members and others – and when asked, a tenth of these said they would give it up they received money
• IT DIY: Three quarters of healthcare respondents said they were willing to perform self-service IT. Furthermore, 68% said they have used personal devices at work for job-related tasks, with an additional 17% saying they would consider doing so in the future

Jon Moger, senior director at Aruba Networks, said of the findings: “A mobile technology-driven hospital or clinic will become the de-facto model for the healthcare industry to the benefit of patient, visitors and practitioners.

Steps need to be made to ensure that advancement does not come at the cost of security – especially with depth of personal data at risk

“Drastic efficiency improvements can be made by embracing the connected mobile behaviours of the younger generation. This can help to reduce misdiagnosis levels, while real-time data can provide a greater level of patient health monitoring. However, steps need to be made to ensure that advancement does not come at the cost of security – especially with depth of personal data at risk.”

Companies

• Aruba Networks