Protecting external media: A difficult challenge

In recent years, external media has become both very useful and very threatening for healthcare facilities. Healthcare professionals are often working from remote locations and transporting sensitive patient data on removable media such as USB drives, SD Memory Cards, laptops, tablet PC’s and smartphones. To maximize data protection, CREDANT Technologies, the largest endpoint encryption and data protection company in the world, specializes in protecting external media devices.

In the modern era of electronic health records, being on the cutting edge of technology is crucial for your organization - including mobility in the workforce, which is especially prevalent in the healthcare industry. Employees are now taking advantage of devices such as large-capacity USB Thumb drives, SD Memory Cards, and robust smartphones to store sensitive patient information. Each device, however, also carries with it the potential for a serious data breach.

Removable media security continues to be one of the most difficult challenges facing security and compliance teams today, especially in the healthcare industry. In the one year since the new HIPAA breach reporting requirements went in to effect, the HHS website is already reporting more than 180 breaches involving 500 records or more. Of these breaches, approximately 40 percent involved a laptop or other portable device. Although removable media security is difficult to conquer, there are strategies that can be used to greatly reduce data breaches through your organizations mobile endpoints.

CREDANT is dedicated to making sure organizations like yours are well equipped against potential data breaches. By taking the steps to protect sensitive patient data, your healthcare facility can greatly reduce the risk of harmful data breaches, and in turn use removable media to aid in providing the utmost quality of patient care.

For more information, please visit www.credant.com/healthcare.