University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Secure Access to Epic Hyperdrive with BIO-key PortalGuard and Identity-Bound Biometrics

WALL, N.J., June 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIO-key International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BKYI), an innovative provider of workforce and customer identity and access management (IAM) solutions featuring Identity-Bound Biometrics (IBB), announced that its longstanding customer University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics (UIHC) would add BIO-key’s PortalGuard platform to expand its existing BIO-key biometric authentication investment as it migrates from Epic Systems’ legacy Hyperspace application to the new browser-based Hyperdrive interface.

UIHC is integrating PortalGuard with Epic Hyperdrive to provide SAML SSO (Single Sign-on) capabilities that leverage their current BIO-key biometric authentication deployment and to avoid user re-enrollment or the adoption of more cumbersome, expensive, or shared multi-factor authentication solutions. Driving the UIHC project timeline is the Epic requirement that customers migrate to Hyperdrive by the November 2023 release deadline.

BIO-key’s PortalGuard platform fully supports Hyperdrive’s modern authentication approach through its industry-standard SAML Identity Provider (IdP) capabilities. PortalGuard provided the required integration with Hyperdrive while allowing UIHC users to enjoy BIO-key’s secure and streamlined biometric authentication user experience. Additionally, UIHC could gain additional value by leveraging PortalGuard as its IdP and therefore use biometric authentication for integrated SAML, OAuth, and OpenID Connect options to extend security benefits to other hospital applications.

"Like most of BIO-key’s other healthcare customers, UIHC uses Epic as a mission-critical application," said Mark Cochran, President of BIO-key – PortalGuard. "Our customers require the security and convenience of BIO-key’s unique IBB capabilities to create a long-lasting, personalized biometric authentication experience that users prefer over phones or tokens. We all know that shared workstations are common in healthcare, yet most competitive solutions do not address them effectively, resulting in potential vulnerabilities due to token or card sharing for the sake of expediency. Our IBB solution balances security and convenience to deliver a cost-effective, robust authentication experience that users enjoy with the security that healthcare providers require."