HIMSS16: Protecting Medical and Personal Information

HIMSS16, the healthcare IT megashow, opens on Monday. We have blogged steadily about the importance of data security in healthcare, and how showcasing data security solutions is a major focus of HIMSS. Statistics about the vulnerability of data theft in healthcare can be dry and abstract. Headlines and bulletins warning of "large data breaches" can get tiresome.

Often it helps to understand the problem better by personalizing it. So here goes:  

Every member of my family in the past year has been notified that critical personal ID information has been exposed by third parties. You or somebody you know probably has been notified, too. If you work for or with the federal government, bank with JP Morgan Chase, have health insurance through Blue Cross Blue Shield, shop at Staples, Target, Home Depot, Michaels or Albertsons, eat out at PF Changs, Jimmy John's or Dairy Queen, or if you have shipped something through a UPS Store, you may have received these warning notices recently.

In the case of my family, soon after the data breach, a serious ID theft attempt was made and we were notified. To combat this threat, we are all locking down our financial lives with serious theft-monitoring protection. We believe the personal information was gathered in one of the healthcare data breaches. So this is personal, this is serious, and this is real.

Healthcare - and all public - organizations need to redouble their efforts to protect client personal information.

It gives me great pride that my employer, NCS Technologies, is leading the efforts lock down healthcare information. NCS offers a complete portfolio of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) hardware and software to protect data. At HIMSS, we are showcasing virtual endpoint solutions.

Click Image For More Information

With VDI, the desktop operating system, applications and sensitive data are hosted on a server in the data center, where strong security is implemented and closely monitored by IT administrators. This directly addresses a key point of vulnerability in healthcare: the endpoint where the employee may inadvertantly expose patient records. When it comes to desktops, laptops and other endpoints, it's proven that zero clients are the better security solution every time.

What NCS Zero Clients All Have in Common

Whatever the form factor, all NCS Zero clients:

•          Have NSA Suite B security
•          Have AES-256 encryption
•          No OS needed
•          No local storage needed
•          Have no persistent user data
•          Don't need antivirus software

Click on the image above to make an appointment to meet an NCS representative at the NCS HIMSS16 booth. At that link you can also download a relevant brochure. Thank you.