Healthcare Employees and Passwords

Abstract

The healthcare industry has benefitted from its employees’ ability to view patient data, but at the same time, this access allows for patient’s healthcare records to be easily captured or stolen. Although access to and transmission of patient data may improve care, increase delivery time of services, and reduce healthcare costs, security of that information may be jeopardized due to the innocent sharing of personal and non-personal data with the wrong person. Through the tactic of social engineering, hackers are able to obtain information from employees that may allow them access into the hospitals networked information system. In this study, we simulated a social engineering attack in hospitals of varying sizes with the goal of obtaining employees passwords. If employees are willing to share their passwords, serious questions and concerns about the state of employee security awareness within the healthcare system must be raised.