TypingDNA Pushes for Keystroke Dynamics to Ensure HIPAA Compliance

TypingDNA is encouraging healthcare providers (and the people who work for them) to use its ActiveLock solution to comply with their HIPAA obligations. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was introduced in 1996, and forces those with access to Protected Health Information (PHI) to take certain security precautions to make sure that that health information remains private.

The problem is that protecting information becomes more difficult in a remote work environment. HIPAA laws extend to any employees or contractors who handle sensitive information on behalf of healthcare organizations, including lawyers, accountants, or security providers. As a result, someone doing administrative work for a hospital at home still needs to make sure that their network is secure enough to fend off cybercriminals if they want to avoid the costly fines that can come with a breach.

That’s where TypingDNA believes that its ActiveLock solution can help. The solution relies on typing biometrics, which is to say that it creates a unique profile for each user based on the way they use a keyboard. It then analyzes user sessions in real time to provide ongoing biometric authentication, revoking access to the system if the keystrokes do not fit the expected pattern.

In doing so, ActiveLock is able to secure network endpoints regardless of location. It also eliminates the risk associated with unlocked and unattended devices. TypingDNA noted that unattended devices are one of the most common reasons for a breach, though poor employee training, hacking, and the absence of a proper data storage and access management system are also prominent risk factors.

TypingDNA’s HIPAA primer goes on to lay out eight steps that organizations can follow to ensure that their cybersecurity practices live up to the HIPAA standard. For example, organizations are advised to have a clear security and privacy policy, and to have a procedure to follow in the event that a breach does occur. TypingDNA has previously published a separate guide for developers who want to add keystroke authentication to iOS applications.

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March 24, 2022 – by Eric Weiss