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Now more than ever, the healthcare industry is depending on internet-connected devices to improve patient care, organizational productivity, response time, and patient confidentiality. With the recent COVID-19 outbreak, the development of telemedicine and patient portal apps has come to the forefront in the industry. Along with digital health records and internet-connected medical devices, the healthcare industry has also never been more vulnerable to a cyber-attack.
As the global epidemic spread across the nation, doctors, dentists, and other medical professionals such as therapists were forced to rely on online visits with their patients. The increase in virtual appointments also brings new concerns of patient confidentiality. Patients want to know how safe is the information shared during these online visits. Are cybercriminals able to steal their personal information? Unfortunate, the answer is yes. The healthcare industry is vulnerable just as is any other industry. However, there are steps healthcare providers can take to protect patient privacy during virtual visits.
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With virtual visits becoming more common place, cyber criminals are licking their chops. Hackers look to take advantage of these opportunities by stealing the private medical and billing information of patients. Cybercriminals could try intercepting emails or video chats with information about preexisting conditions or personal problems you may be having. Once the information is obtained, they could potentially sell it on the dark web, use it for blackmail, or sell it to drug manufacturers who overload customers with advertisements.
Healthcare records are particularly valuable on black markets due to the information they contain can be used to steal your identity. The information they hold might consist of your birth date, Social Security number, medical conditions, height, weight, home address, and even a picture of you. Hackers can use this information to take out credit cards or loans in your name.
Providers may give their patients the option of ending their virtual visit by receiving health records through email or the medical provider’s online portal. Hackers may be able to steal the contents of your email messages or track the keystrokes you use to log onto your medical provider’s online portal. Just as medical providers are required to protect user information, so are all business entities.
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So, what can hospitals, medical centers, dentists, and other healthcare providers do to guard against the threat of cyber-attack? Here is a simple five-point plan that will go a long way to helping healthcare professionals secure their defenses.
Make sure that servers and PCs are up to date with the latest operating systems and antivirus solutions.
Consider if older machines, which are beyond updates or support, could be replaced or retired. The cost of doing so, and inconvenience of replacing older equipment will probably be less than the impact of a data breach.
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Make sure everyone in the organization is familiar with ransomware methods and can recognize attempts to gain password credentials or circulate harmful links and attachments. Hospitals employ so many different and diverse professionals, covering a multitude of functions, that there needs to be a culture of vigilance across the entire organization.
Use different credentials for accessing backup storage and maybe even a mixture of file systems to isolate different parts of your infrastructure to slow the spread of ransomware. Healthcare organizations that follow the “1-10-60” rule of cybersecurity will be better placed to neutralize the threat of a hostile adversary before it can leave its initial entry point. The most cyber-prepared healthcare agencies should aim to detect an intrusion in under a minute, perform a full investigation in under 10 minutes, and eradicate the adversary from the environment in under an hour.
Three copies of your data, on at least two different media, with one stored offsite (e.g. cloud or tape) and one stored offline (e.g. tape). Having your data behind a physical air gap creates perhaps the most formidable barrier against ransomware. Tape can greatly speed up your recovery in the hours and days that follow an attack, especially if your primary backups have been disrupted. Tape is also supremely efficient for storing huge amounts of infrequently accessed medical records for a very long time. Tapes can also be encrypted so that even if they did fall into the wrong hands, it would be impossible for thieves to access or use the data.
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