Medical Delivery Wireless Security

Wireless Security and HIPAA Compliance - Medical Delivery Wireless Security

Among the legal requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 are that all Protected Health Information (PHI) be kept private and secure. Although convenient, the use of wireless technology may introduce several security vulnerabilities into your business processes that could lead to inadvertent violations of HIPAA regulations.

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Wireless Security

The wireless security guidelines that should be followed in order to comply with HIPAA rules include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The strongest type of encryption that is commercially available should be used at all wireless access points. Currently, 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) data encryption is the strongest. Many systems still rely on Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) security, but this is actually very insecure and can be cracked in minutes by any knowledgeable wardriver. (Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle, using a portable computer or PDA.)
  • Do not rely on MAC address filtering for access control because MAC addresses can easily be spoofed.
  • Do not rely on disabling the System Service Identifier (SSID) at the access point because the SSID can still be discovered by passively sniffing wireless traffic.
  • Establish IPSec (IP Security) tunnels between the wireless client workstation and a trusted end point on the network for securely transmitting PHI.
  • Use the 802.1X/EAP (Extensible Authentication Protocol) end-to-end framework, which provides for mutual authentication between the wireless client and the authentication server, as well as a central policy to control session timeouts and the redistribution of keys. Encryption keys can also be dynamically assigned and managed.

Is all of this "Greek" to you? If so, then consider enlisting the services of a company that can ensure that your medical delivery system is in full compliance with HIPAA's security regulations.

American Barcode and RFID can help you incorporate wireless security into your medical delivery process. Fill out the form on the left-hand side of this page for a Free Mobility Assessment to see if an integrated delivery system that includes wireless security measures can help you reduce costs, increase revenue, and most importantly, protect customer/patient data. Alternatively, you may call us at the number below.



Call 1-800-281-3056 for a Free Mobility Assessment.