Swedish Healthcare Uses YubiKey for Securing Access to Patient Data
PALO ALTO, Calif. and STOCKHOLM, Apr. 05, 2011 — To meet the security requirements from the Swedish Data Inspection Agency, Swedish hospitals are now starting to use YubiKey USB authentication, including a world leading quality register of stroke patients.
Riks-Stroke, the national register center for acute stroke, is one of the largest quality registers in Sweden. All Swedish hospitals admitting acute stroke patients participate. With more than a quarter of a million stroke events recorded, Riks-Stroke plays a leading role in European collaboration of stroke registers.
In October 2010, the Swedish Data Inspection Agency audited the quality of national registers. Riks-Stroke was criticized for its login security routines, a critique that also affected other audited registers. The Data Inspection Agency did not consider username and password to be sufficient means of authentication and required an additional level of security for login.
Today, employees securely log on to the Riks-Stroke registration pages with a YubiKey or smart card, meeting the Data Inspection Agency’s requirements.
“We believe that the system will work well,” says Per Ivarsson, Riks-Stroke secretary.
The YubiKey simplifies the process of logging in with a One-Time Password (OTP) token as it does not require the user to re-type OTPs from a display device into the login field of the computer. The YubiKey is inserted in the USB port of any computer and the OTP is generated and automatically entered with a simple touch of a button on the YubiKey, without the need of any client software or drivers. The rugged, ultra-thin, battery-free, crush safe and waterproof design has also been fundamental to the success of the YubiKey, currently used by a million users globally.
For more about Riks-Stroke, please click here.
About Yubico
Yubico is the leading provider of easy-to-use two-factor authentication. The company’s flagship product, the YubiKey, uniquely combines driverless USB hardware with open source software. More than a million users in 95 countries rely on the YubiKey for online identity protection with simple and secure access to computers, networks and online services. Customers range from individual Internet users to e-governments and Fortune 500 companies. Founded in 2007, Yubico is privately held with offices in California, Sweden and UK. For more information, please visit yubico.com.
