Inquiries Regarding a Non-Password World in the Healthcare Sector
In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, the move towards passwordless authentication in healthcare organizations is gaining traction. This shift offers significant benefits, but also presents notable challenges.
Benefits:
The enhanced security provided by passwordless methods is a key advantage. By reducing risks associated with weak or stolen passwords, incidents of data breaches and phishing attacks are minimized. Biometric factors, such as face recognition, offer strong identity assurance that is difficult to replicate, bolstering overall cybersecurity [1][4].
Improved user experience and productivity are another significant benefits. Eliminating password friction allows healthcare staff to authenticate quickly across devices and workflows without disruptions. This seamless, fast authentication suits the fast-paced healthcare environment, allowing workers to focus on patient care rather than logins [1][2][5].
Operational efficiency and cost reduction are additional advantages. Reducing password-related help desk calls lowers support costs. Centralized template management and compatibility with standard hardware reduce IT overhead. Unified access devices consolidate digital and physical access, simplifying management [3][4].
Compliance with regulatory requirements and future-readiness are also benefits. Passwordless solutions can meet healthcare compliance requirements while aligning with emerging standards like FIDO passkeys, preparing organizations for a passwordless future [1][3][5].
Challenges:
The implementation complexity and transition pose significant hurdles. Moving to passwordless requires phased strategies tailored to healthcare needs, integrating with diverse workflows and legacy systems without disrupting operations [5].
Device and environment constraints are another challenge. Authentication must work reliably in healthcare settings where clinicians may wear masks or use shared devices. Solutions need robust liveness detection compatible with standard webcams to maintain security without expensive hardware [1][2].
User enrollment and adoption present operational hurdles. Although centralized enrollment simplifies setup, ensuring all staff adopt new authentication methods and are adequately trained remains a challenge [2][5].
Balancing security and convenience is essential. Dynamic adaptation to risk factors is necessary to maintain high security without sacrificing user convenience, demanding sophisticated system design and management [4].
Roaming devices are a key concern in healthcare, as providers must reauthenticate themselves. This requires careful planning and robust solutions optimized for clinical settings [1][3][4][5].
Google, Apple, and Microsoft have announced efforts to support passwordless sign-in standards set by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium. A passkey, which is a PIN that is part of public-private key cryptography, serving as a private key that unlocks an account secured by a public key, provides secure passwordless authentication through the verification of a public key cryptographically linked to the private key [6].
To prepare for a passwordless world, an organization should ensure two-factor authentication is in place and learn about industry-standard services such as trusted platform module and FIDO that set forth strategies for replacing passwords. A proper training program is critical for a successful passwordless system rollout in healthcare, especially considering the need for providers to reauthenticate themselves on roaming devices [2][5].
Healthcare organizations must ensure they implement passwordless workflows while following all HIPAA requirements to protect patient health information. Attackers use password spraying to repeatedly attempt to compromise password-only accounts, especially internet-exposed services, by using a list of common usernames and passwords. Therefore, it is crucial to move towards passwordless authentication to bolster security and streamline operations [7].
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/03/10/passwordless-authentication-is-the-future-of-cybersecurity/?sh=663e297e66f6 [2] https://healthitanalytics.com/news/healthcare-passwordless-authentication-what-you-need-to-know [3] https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/why-healthcare-organizations-should-move-passwordless-authentication [4] https://www.healthcareitnews.com/blog/passwordless-authentication-in-healthcare-its-time [5] https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/passwordless-authentication-in-healthcare-a-balancing-act-of-security-and-efficiency [6] https://www.w3.org/TR/webauthn/ [7] https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/03/22/password-spraying-attacks-on-the-rise/
Science in the healthcare sector is advancing with the growing adoption of passwordless authentication, a technology introduced to improve health-and-wellness by fortifying cybersecurity [3][4]. However, the transition to passwordless authentication challenges include device and environment constraints, user enrollment and adoption obstacles, and the complexity of implementation [1][2]. To address these challenges, healthcare organizations can leverage knowledge from technology resources such as the FIDO Alliance and World Wide Web Consortium [6].
