10 Hot Security Products For Health Care

Absolute Software's recently debuted Absolute Manage -- formerly known as LANrev -- is a software package that offers healthcare organizations automated management, security patching and asset tracking of desktops, laptops and mobiles from a single interface. It's in line with a portfolio of management and security products from Absolute that allow administrators to address their hardware from a central location. The Absolute Manage product uses SQLite as its embedded database and syncs to Security Content Automation Protocol reports to adjust how hardware is configured. According to Absolute, it also includes automated patch management, computer inventory and energy savings tools.

AirTight's game is wireless security, and the most recent update to its SpectraGuard line, 6.0, came in January. According to AirTight, the suite combines wireless LAN security with performance management and forensics tools using software called Smart Forensics and Predictive Performance. The Smart Forensics dashboard (pictured at left) tracks and analyzes network threats, providing details on prevention status and past client associations. The WLAN performance dashboard examines network performance by category, location, APs and clients and tracks trending in coverage, configuration, interference and bandwidth by time. The 6.0 release adds IPv6 support, according to AirTight, and pricing is based on WIPS licenses, deliverable to health care and other organizations in an on-demand package.

Anakam's Identity Suite is a full package of authentication software designed for large-scale environments, and the company positions its package as a lower-cost, better-featured alternative to more cumbersome legacy token and card-based authentication systems at hospitals and other settings.

The individual tools in the Suite, which can be sold, deployed or configured individually, include Anakam's TFA that uses the organization's existing infrastructure to provide a two-factor authentication platform; Anakam IDP, which provides no-touch identify proofing of people using the network; Anakam IDV, which is for identity verification; Anakam CGW, for identifying professional credentials along with identity; Anakam ODI, a Web-based version that provides all of the TFA, IDP, IDV and CGW on-demand; Anakam VPC, which syncs the TFA program to a virtual private network; and Anakam SCE, a data protection tool.

The whole package also gets you Anakam AdmInPro, an administrative tool that allows users to customize their authentication process.

The latest updates to Ensure's XyLoc security and RF proximity-based authentication tools are XyLoc Client 9.0 and XyLoc Security Server 5.0, which Ensure made available via an FTP site for download to existing customers as of fall 2009.

Client 9.0, which runs on Windows environments and supports Citrix XenApp as well, includes the XyView Client dashboard, an updated algorithim for locking client workstations, a "delay lock" algorithm that accounts for a setting's workflow needs based on proximity, an audit log for passive RF and active RF devices, and support for Citrix Password Manager Hot Desktop, UPEK fingerprint readers and Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol.

The updated Security Server 5.0, which is a Web-based server application, adds support for Microsoft Server 2008 and SQL 2008 and also security support for the "delay lock" feature.

Kryptiq makes security tools for health-care organizations, including software to enable more secure movement of information from electronic medical records (EMR) as they interact with Health Information Exchanges (HIE) and other events where exposure of sensitive patient data is at risk.

The company's newest additions to the Connect IQ portfolio include Connect IQ Referral Management, which is built on top of Kryptiq's Message Center and includes the ability to build referrals from practice management, electronic health record, local data store and HIE applications and push inbound patient data into other systems.

The program dashboard allows users to view referral activity and communicate with referral partners, as well as notify patients on the transmission of those referrals and share information securely.

Symantec Health, which debuted this week, is a hosted medical image archiving and sharing platform: a joint storage and security offering for health care providers that have large file archiving and sharing needs but want to address those needs as a hosted, op-ex model.

It includes two products. Symantec Health Safe is the intended secure storage piece, scaleable to include larger volumes of medical images and according to Symantec, adaptable to existing picture archiving and communications systems (PACS), while also including business analytics and business continuity tools. Symantec Health Image Share allows organizations to share images among themselves. Pricing varies by hospital need, according to Symantec, which estimates it can save hospitals half of what they currently spend on medical image archiving over five years.

Eye Controls designs and markets iris recognition biometrics tools for clinical and medical settings. SafeMatch is its flagship software, and it's also building an active OEM, integrator and reseller program at a time when a number of vendors are entering the biometric security and safety markets with designs on the health care channel. SafeMatch is single sign-on and is activated when a patient looks into a camera, providing an audit trail and providing access to patient records, e-prescribing and other healthcare facility systems. Eye Controls' software can also pattern data to be linked to medication, transfusion and procedure verification systems, unique patient identifier records and master patient index numbers for RHIOs, HIEs and payer databases, as well as National Provider Identifier (NPI) databases, and checks for duplicated records. According to Eye Controls, it supports all medical software through a combination SafeMatch server and handheld USB camera installed on a the health-care facility network. Eye Controls also has a partner program for developers, providing an SDK to encourage app development on top of SafeMatch in electronic medical record systems.

The latest addition to Imprivata's portfolio of access management and authentication tools is OneSign Secure Walk-Away, which debuted this week at HIMSS and is intended to protect hospital workstations through active presence detection and user tracking. The Walk-Away product automatically locks the desktop when an employee is away from the workstation, but re-authenticates when it has identified the employee returning. Imprivata has positioned its authentication products as alternatives to Windows desktop security and remote VPN passwords, and offers everything from finger biometrics, proximity cards, smart cards, One-Time-Password tokens and location tracking tools through its overall OneSign Authentication Management, an appliance-based product that, according to Imprivata, adapts to existing infrastructures.

Indigo Identityware offers identity management products that integrate behavioral single sign-on for physician groups (as Indigo MD) and hospitals (as Indigo Acute) to gain one-touch access to clinical applications. The software performs as an extension of Windows operating systems rather than runs on central servers, and the company recently announced support for Windows 7 environments. At HIMSS this week, Indigo announced a new partnership with specialty EMR vendor gMed, through which gMed will offer Indigo software as part of its EMR packages. Formerly known as Sig-Tec Corp., the company's name was changed to Indigo in December.

Go paperless, urges ColdSpark, whose new managed services offering, announced earlier this week at the conference, is intended for the secure transmission of patient information via e-mail. The hosted service, built on top of ColdSpark's existing platform, includes the ability to deliver 2 and 5 million messages per server hour, Web services and API integration with local systems, a Zero-Bounce Socket Layer failure detection feature, a domain-based Flow Control and Intelligent Send Management feature configurable to different receiving practices, traffic prioritization, phishing prevention and reputation enhancement, and various analytics and reporting tools. Coldspark's idea is to help payer and provider organizations cut back on paper use for things like explanations of benefits, account statements and billing invoices by integrating all those functions into a centrally managed interface, integrated with existing EMR and other infrastructure applications.

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