Council Newswire
Smart Phone Data Security is Critical says Health Care Leaders
Nashville Tech Story (3/16/10)
Healthcare IT workers are among the biggest users of smart phones and other mobile technology, but addressing the security needs of such devices remains a critical concern, according to a survey released today by Forrester Consulting.
The study, titled “Managing and Securing Mobile Healthcare Data and Devices,” found that 95 percent of healthcare enterprises relying on smartphones for work, making the industry one of the most mobile across all verticals.
But Forrester also found that 90 percent of the IT leaders queried felt data security on such technologies was of high or critical importance, and 86 percent cited regulatory compliance as a concern. Further, more than half of the respondents indicated the need for a tool that can poll for device encryption, and more than a third voiced a desire for a solution that could produce policy violation alerts.
“There’s good reason for these IT pros to be concerned,” read the study, in which 31 percent of respondents reported that their data has been compromised at least once in the previous year. “As close to 100 percent of healthcare organizations take on devices such as smart phones, adding to the desktops and laptops already in place, there isn’t uniform control across the varying types of devices users rely on.”
Source: Healthcare IT News
Tags: forrester, healthcare it, security, smart phone
