CITATION
Goedert, J. (2013). Mobile device management software: the answer to BYOD? Health data management, 21(2), 32, 34, 36 passim.
Great article that mentions how MDM in recent times (2011-2013) has been trying to address the security and privacy issues related to BYOD in the health care industry. It mentions the fantastic benefits but also the risks involved and one additional issue, the cost of implementation as well as the ongoing cost of maintenance and upgrades.
Some notable pieces of the article:
- [With physicians] devices quickly become a status symbol
- Health care industry is far more open that other industries with more "free agents"
- Doctors can work at multiple hospitals using their own devices
- Of course they also have their own data on those devices along patients/hospitals data
- It has not been clear to hospitals how they can control their data access and security on these devices
- Physicians typically want certain functionality so they will download what they want or else pay a developer to make it and then they start using it
- These developers are not necessarily security experts
- This means security is often not built into the apps
- This of course is critical to health care providers
- Many times after the transaction, the developer disappears along with the source code
MDM
- MDM started with some basic tools
- Enforcing passwords
- Enforcing encryption
- Remote wipe
- Talk to five mobile security experts as what is MDM and you will get five different answers!!!
A well rounded MDM definition perhaps (see below)?
Mobile Device Management configures the device and apps, protects the data,
separates professional and personal data, and at the end of a session removes the professional data
- MDM [strives to be] the way of allowing BYOD on the corporate network in a secure and reliable manner (whatever reliable means)
According to the article mobile market as we know it is young and did not come into play until the second half of 2010. The only MDMs out there were for Blackberries and RiM might be going out of business or be sold. Doctors, nurses, and staff prefer their iPhones and Androids and more recently iPads.
- Hospitals have been learning it is not possible to deny BYOD
- Once the device is on the network, there is no way to know what is running on the device short of some MDM solution
MDM systems enable a consistent, policy-driven and enterprise configuration of mobile devices. The software enables many features:
- Email restriction of photos, notes and videos
- Passwords can remotely be reset
- Devices can remotely be locked
- Devices can be tracked via GPS
- Certain apps (such as network scanners) can be blacklisted
- Devices can be remotely wiped
- Cameras can be disabled
Lessons learned:
- Pilot program started with 50 and grew to 300 in less than 4 months
- Kids love iPads and it helps them not think about needles
- Every part of a hospital needs to be represented for beta testings
- Devices that do not say "Hi" within 24 hours are wiped remotely (or locked)
- Benefits of mobile computing have been significant workflow improvement for physicians and nurses
- Some health insurers are finding it necessary to develop mobile device management policies
- There is not a static version of MDM software; upgrades are frequent
- Supporting mobile devices is a bigger challenge that previously thought
- Most IT support is Windows trained and need quick learning to become familiar with mobile devices, their apps, MDM, and security challenges
- Setup costs and cost of licenses is a high and can be a sticker shock when a $140 license per device is required
By: Nima Zahadat
