With constantly evolving security and compliance regulations, it may seem impossible for healthcare organizations to sustain a high level of security, while also ensuring quick, efficient access to systems and data.

Last month, our top Identity and Access Management (IAM) experts escaped the Texas heat and traveled to Albany, New York for the 22nd Annual New York State (NYS) Cyber Security Conference.

*Disclaimer: This article originally appeared in EmergingEdTech, Administrative Solutions posts. 

School districts throughout the country rely on technology today more than ever before. At many districts, laptops and tablets are standard-issue equipment for students as young as second grade-level, and they must be compatible with campus networks as well as in the home.

With mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on the rise, it’s likely that your company has either experienced an M&A already or will at some point. And you're also likely aware of the herculean effort that’s required of IT staff. Suddenly, IT is knee deep in integration efforts, such as onboarding acquired employees, consolidating domains, and integrating technology stacks. Let’s face it, cybersecurity is rarely the top priority.

In healthcare, the pressure is always on to drive down overall costs and provide higher levels of patient care. The result: a never-ending quest to increase efficiency. EMR’s, telehealth tools, and other third-party IT solutions that enhance productivity and streamline clinician workflows have become the norm.

Another year, another series of data breach headlines. 2018 has come to a close, and we’ve been looking back at one of the year’s biggest and potentially costliest breaches: the British Airways data breach that was announced back in September. With approximately 380,000 booking transactions exposed and more than $1 billion in potential fines and lawsuits, the breach offers many important lessons.

The recent British Airways breach is only one of many recent breach headlines, but it got us thinking about the importance of getting security basics right. All too often, the biggest breach headlines—and the ones with the largest financial and reputational impact—are the result of minor and preventable security vulnerabilities.

Hackers continue to use the same tried and tested techniques because they know that, all too often, companies aren't putting enough time and effort into basic security measures.

On September 7, 2018, British Airways disclosed that a data breach had impacted customer information taken from approximately 380,000 booking transactions conducted between August 21 and September 5, 2018.

Although the attack wasn’t elaborate, it was effective. A cyber attacker installed malware on British Airways’ website using a known security vulnerability to introduce malicious code that altered the behavior of the booking website—without penetrating the network or servers in a way that could trigger additional alerts.

More and more, healthcare as providers are merging together or acquiring other hospitals to to increase their footprint, provide higher levels of patient care, and enable strategic synergies.

Modern identity and access management (IAM) solutions are a crucial, but often overlooked facilitator of IT integration. Having the right IAM solution in place not only reduces time, costs, and integration conflicts, but also ensures a smoother transition for both clinicians and patients.

Let’s be real. Attackers are growing more and more emboldened by the day. As their tools become so simple that even “script kiddies” can use them to wreak havoc on unsuspecting targets, governing bodies are putting added emphasis on tighter regulatory compliance.