In-brief: efforts by clinical staff to circumvent password protections are “endemic” in healthcare environments and mostly go unnoticed by hospital IT staff, according to a new report.  Hospitals are pretty hygienic places – except when it comes to passwords, it seems.  That’s the conclusion of a recent study by researchers at Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania and USC, which found that efforts to circumvent password protections are “endemic” in healthcare environments and mostly go unnoticed by hospital IT staff. The report describes what can only be described as wholesale abandonment of security best practices at hospitals and other clinical environments – with the bad behavior being driven by necessity rather than malice. “In hospital after hospital and clinic after clinic, we find users write down passwords everywhere,” the report reads. “Sticky notes form sticky stalagmites on medical devices and in medication preparation rooms. We’ve observed entire hospital units share a password to a … Continue reading Study finds Password Misuse in Hospitals a Steaming Hot Mess