Lync and HIPAA

tahin · 2012-11-08T19:23:32.000Z

Hi all,

We need a chat client that’s HIPAA compliant that works both on desktop and mobile. I recently heard that Lync with Office 365 is HIPAA complaint, but I was wondering more about an on-premise Lync deployment. Messages need to be encrypted on the device, as well as in transit. Does anyone know if a local Lync setup is HIPAA compliant?

We’ve looked into Qliqsoft and TIger as well, but Lync would do wonders for us as we’ve been looking into presence tools as well.

Thanks all!!

Tim

philip · 2012-11-08T19:29:45.000Z

I would think if you ran the HIPAA rules against your Lync install, you could make it HIPAA compliant.

Follow this H ow to make Spiceworks HIPAA compliant how to and just substitute your Lync server/install for the Spiceworks server/install.

tahin · 2012-11-08T20:53:15.000Z

Thanks for the reply Philip, that’s good info.

Through further reading it looks as though I can implment Lync Online standalone (at a whopping $2/user! ), not requiring any other Office365 components and utilizing our on-premise exchange server. This satisfies HIPAA. Do you know if a user with Lync on their smartphone can use Lync online that’s federated with an exchange server?

philip · 2012-11-08T21:06:16.000Z

I do not know that. I am not to familiar with Lync.

tahin · 2012-11-08T21:20:22.000Z

Just spoke with a MS rep. Lync online is HIPAA compliant, can act as stand-alone and not require any other Office365 apps, works with an on-premise exchange server, and supports both Android and iOS. Best part is Microsoft provides a BAA for securing the data.

Good info to pass along, for those who are looking for alternatives to Qliq and Tiger

philip · 2012-11-08T21:22:17.000Z

We are trialing Qliq now. TigerText sales reps left me feeling icky, like after dealing with a sleazy used cars sales person.

Will look into Lync.

tahin · 2012-11-08T21:30:27.000Z

We’re trialing Qliq as well. It seems to work well, but conversation tracking seems clunky? But it’s free so can’t complain too much! I’ll let you know how Lync works out, we will probably trial the online version within a couple days.

philip · 2012-11-08T21:32:47.000Z

We are having issue with delivery times. I think it is because of us trying to use multiple devices per user. The update at the end of the month should help with that.

jenniferbowes6814 · 2013-11-08T15:53:06.000Z

Hi! I’m also using Qliq - and yes TigerText made me feel like I’d just been to a used car lot on the bad side of town!

I’m running my own exchange server; however, who I’m messaging is off-site to my location in different companies. (We read mammograms for multiple different companies). If I add a linc account for each of the people on my exchange server - do I have to pay for that? Or is it like email? My server - I do what I want? I’m just now looking at this as an option.

Thanks

alan1489 · 2014-03-19T11:51:53.000Z

Has anyone taken Lync, Qliq or TigerText into production? Any insight to a solution which requires users out of our Domain to send encrypted messages? (from a browser session for example)

tahin · 2014-03-19T13:06:57.000Z

The keyword there is out of domain. I think Qliqsoft is still the front-runner for external communications. We use Lync in-house only and it works, but it lacks security-centric features such as native data encryption on the device. We’d have to use a different product to enforce phone encryption if we went mobile, and doing so with phones not under your domain’s control isn’t realistic. Qliq supports browser messaging as well, I’d check them out first.

philip · 2014-03-19T15:25:20.000Z

We currently have Qliq in production with 29 docs, 75ish employees, 15 full time facilities and 10ish part time facilities. Have had it in production for the better part of a year.

The guys at Qliqsoft are really trying to deliver a solid product. There are still some bugs to be worked out. Greg ( greg2514 ) here at my office has been working with the dev team there for about a year. He has really helped them push their product dev to where it is today. They will get there, but it isn’t perfect yet. You can thank Greg for things like message alert even if the phone is on silent, different alerts, delivery confirmation with out the end user acknowledging the text, being able to use the same account on multiple devices at the same time, being able to add users outside of your own network, and on, and on. He has really pushed for a lot of these needed features.

At zero cost though, Qliq is a hell of a lot better than TigerText (they will never get my business because of slimy sales and marketing staff) and other paid for offerings.

We do have a Lync server license and CALs, but have not started playing with it yet. Our device level encryption is handled by MaaS360 (love their product).