Part of Health-ISAC's Identity for the Healthcare CISO White Paper Series
Health-ISAC released a new white paper intended to help CISOs understand biometric technologies, patient and employee use cases, and security and privacy considerations. Some may think biometrics are fingerprints and faces but the technologies cover a wide variety of physical and behavioral characteristics.
The paper defines physical and behavioral biometric technologies, as well as the pros and cons of those systems. The paper discusses the potential killer app for biometrics in health care: multi-factor authentication (MFA). Implementing MFA in healthcare has historically been challenging and biometrics may prove a solution in some instances.
The biometrics paper provides employee use cases that would enable easier access to networks and applications. It looks at how biometrics can help identify patients and make the check in process simpler for them.
Before any biometric implementation can take place, an institution should look at equity and bias considerations as with any new technology. Security and privacy factors are critical as some jurisdictions have enacted laws that impact how biometrics can be used. The paper also covers emerging threats to biometrics from artificial intelligence and how to combat them.
This paper is the seventh in a Health-ISAC series focused on helping organizations of all sizes and maturity levels understand the importance of an identity-centric approach to cybersecurity and the ways it can better address the current threat landscape.
