About Author: Siddharth Gandhi, COO-Asia Pacific, 1Kosmos. Siddharth is a multifaceted professional leader who brings a unique blend of well-rounded experience of nearly twenty years spanning across industries like Information Technology, Retail, Investment Management and Banking. He has successfully managed multiple cross-functional disciplines including Infosec, IT, HR, Finance, MIS, Business Development, and Administration over the years.
The healthcare industry today stands poised at a critical juncture. At a time when cyber threats are getting more sophisticated and growing in frequency, the need for robust data security measures has never been more pressing.
To begin with, the need for robust data security and timely access can’t be overstated in an industry like healthcare, where any delay in accessing patient records or getting compromised information can become a matter of life or death.
And given the sensitive nature of data, healthcare organisations are the prime target of nuanced cyber attacks, phishing attacks, and ransomware.
The black market assigns high value to the medical records and insurance details of patients, thus making it a lucrative target for hackers. Traditional security measures are easy to breach and leave scope for data breaches that not only cost organisations huge capital losses but also erode patient trust.
Digital Wallets: Solution to a Fragmented System
Today’s digital-first consumers expect processes to be more intuitive, smart, and digital. To that end, digital wallets, powered by advanced technologies like biometrics and decentralised identity, have emerged as transformative solutions to address these bottlenecks. Digital wallets not only allow healthcare providers to securely and smartly access patient records, but by mitigating cyber threats and building digital trust, they also redefine the security landscape in the healthcare industry, making it more interoperable and democratically accessible.
Healthcare providers are spread across different companies, states, and cities. In the absence of a centralised database, the medical records – and by extension, the entire healthcare system – can crumble. Patients can’t be expected to recall medical histories, especially in times of distress, and data transfer isn’t always easy across state lines, which only gets more complicated during times of emergencies across national borders.
Furthermore, recent standards like TEFCO (Trusted Exchange Framework Common Agreement) are a legal consensus that favours data transfers regardless of location. This becomes a completely seamless and unified experience with the advent of Digital Wallets.
By reviewing and obtaining medical records, digital wallets empower patients and providers alike. Unlike traditional security measures, digital wallets provide a decentralised and user-centric model for storing and managing personal information. Here’s how the growing prominence of digital wallets is reshaping the healthcare industry:
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Secured by Biometrics
By leveraging biometric authentication like fingerprint or facial matching, digital wallets ensure that sensitive information can only be accessed upon user consent.. This includes biometric-linked vaccination records, wearable-generated data authenticated via IoT signatures, and removes passwords, a common attack vector, from the mix and minimises the scope for unauthorised access.
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Decentralisation & Data Integrity
Instead of a centralised database, digital wallets deploy decentralised identity frameworks, thus storing personal information in a distributed ledger. This way, digital wallets ensure data integrity and prevent single points of failure, making it virtually impossible for hackers to compromise the system. In situations where the account does get compromised, digital wallets eliminate all third-party access, including administrative access.
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Exclusive access & privacy controls for users
One of the most empowering aspects of digital wallets is giving complete control to patients over their health information. The wallets offer user-managed privacy features, enabling patients to decide who can access their data. In addition to enhancing security, this builds trust between patients and healthcare providers.
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Passwordless Multi-Factor Authentication
Digital wallets have been a huge boon for healthcare workers, streamlining their access to critical systems through passwordless multi-factor authentication. This not only maintains rigorous security checks but also offers quick and easy access in high-pressure environments, where quick and seamless access to important information can result in saving lives.
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Real-time & Regulatory-compliant data exchange across sectors:
