Equifax To Provide Gemalto Security Solution To U.S. Healthcare Providers

First implementation with HEALTHeLINK, the clinical information exchange for Buffalo, NY and surrounding region

Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, recently announced it will provide multi-factor authentication one-time password (OTP) tokens to Equifax, a leader in identity management. The security devices, based on Open Authentication (OATH), are part of Gemalto’s Protiva Medsecure solution and will be packaged within Equifax’s Anakam Identity Services. The Gemalto solution will extend the existing Equifax offer, adding a comprehensive, secure platform which allows flexibility in authenticating users with diverse compliance and security requirements – such as financial services, government solutions, and healthcare – while ensuring information is kept private and confidential.

The first implementation of this system is for HEALTHeLINK, a collaboration structure among healthcare providers in an eight county region of western New York State that includes Buffalo and Niagara Falls, to securely share medical and clinical information electronically. The Gemalto Protiva Medsecure strong authentication solution is in particular able to accommodate situations in which users are unable to receive their one-time passwords through text messaging or interactive voice response. Physicians often face network coverage problems in hospitals and are thus unable to utilize a mobile device.

“The solution offers our physicians a highly secure method to access electronic health records even in locations where hospital or clinic policies forbid cell phones for text message delivery or mobile applications,” said Dan Porreca, Executive Director of HEALTHeLINK. “We have used authentication technology successfully for several years and this addition allows us to more fully meet the requirements for secure access to patient records and offers flexibility in how we manage that security.”

“The Equifax Anakam Identity Services offers HEALTHeLINK a comprehensive and secure platform to grant physicians and other providers online access to electronic patient records,” said Garry Capers, VP Business Development, Equifax. “Adding Gemalto’s expertise in identity management strengthens our existing offering and helps HEALTHeLINK meet applicable federal and state standards for security in healthcare IT.”

“The implementation of multi-factor authentication by HEALTHeLINK provides better security and privacy of medical records,” said Tom Flynn, Vice-President Online Authentication at Gemalto North America. “Gemalto‘s versatile authentication solution easily complements Equifax’s flexible platform of risk-based identity management. It also provides a path for Equifax to grow its authentication practice as its customer needs evolve.”

About Gemalto
Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO) is the world leader in digital security with 2011 annual revenues of €2B and more than 10,000 employees operating out of 74 offices and 14 Research & Development centers, located in 43 countries.

We are at the heart of the rapidly evolving digital society. Billions of people worldwide increasingly want the freedom to communicate, travel, shop, bank, entertain and work – anytime, everywhere – in ways that are enjoyable and safe. Gemalto delivers on their expanding needs for personal mobile services, payment security, authenticated cloud access, identity and privacy protection, eHealthcare and eGovernment efficiency, convenient ticketing and dependable machine-to-machine (M2M) applications.

Gemalto develops secure embedded software and secure products which we design and personalize. Our platforms and services manage these secure products, the confidential data they contain and the trusted end-user services they enable. Our innovations offer more ways for our clients to enhance the convenience and security of people’s digital lives.

Gemalto thrives with the growing number of people using its solutions to interact with the digital and wireless world.

For more information visit www.gemalto.com, www.justaskgemalto.com.

About HEALTHeLINK:
The not-for-profit organization was established through funding from BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, The Catholic Health System, Erie County Medical Center Corporation, Independent Health Association, Kaleida Health, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Univera Healthcare and the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law for New Yorkers Capital Grant Program (HEAL NY) from New York State. HEALTHeLINK also received one of the country’s largest awards as part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program.

HEALTHeLINK stakeholders include a broad representation of healthcare professionals and organizations throughout the eight-county Western New York region such as the State University of New York at Buffalo, P2 Collaborative, Chautauqua County Health Network, the WNY Rural Area Health Education Center and local county public health departments. For more information, visit www.wnyhealthelink.com.