ADVERTORIAL
RANSOMWARE ATTACKS - ARE YOU PROTECTED ?
KNOW THE PROACTIVE MEASURES YOU CAN TAKE TO PROTECT YOUR PRACTICE AND MEDICAL RECORDS .
Lose weight , exercise more and eat your fruits and vegetables : words of wisdom frequently heard in doctors ’ offices . They are simple , proactive measures that most of us can take to lead healthier lives and prevent many health-related issues . Being proactive also makes a huge difference in the health of your IT infrastructure and information systems .
It seems ransomware attacks are making the headlines every week . The health care industry , unfortunately , is one of the top targets for cyber criminals . In a study by Bitglass , cyber-attacks had an increase of over 55 % in 2020 , with an estimated impact to the protected health information ( PHI ) of some 26 million people in the US . Attacks on health care providers have turned into a $ 13.2 billion industry and the average cost of a breach has risen to $ 499 per record .
There are several reasons hackers focus on health care providers . Medical records contain a tremendous amount of personal information . A ransomware attack causes serious disruption by denying you access to patient information and can cause prolonged delays in providing proper patient care . An attack can also lock down computer driven health care devices rendering them useless . In addition , there are serious penalties and fines for exposing that confidential data . Faced with these circumstances , the quickest remedy is to pay the ransom which is exactly what the cyber criminals want .
Much like eating fruits and vegetables , adopting healthy practices around your technology infrastructure is the most effective way you can prevent an attack and , should one occur , limit the damage .
Here are some ways you can start creating healthy IT habits . Let us start with the most basic and go from there . It is amazing that some of these need to be listed but , sadly , we still see practices that are not using the most basic protection . Here are the things you should check :
1 ) Passwords : Should be required on every device that logs into your network , including phones . They should contain at least eight characters and use a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters , numbers and symbols . You should require password changes every three months at a minimum .
a .
Example of a bad password : Password21 b . Example of a good password : % Tve @ l0Bx !
If you have trouble keeping track of your passwords , use a Password Manager program to help you . If you are serious about security , you should be using multi-factor authentication ( MFA ) to log into critical programs or infrastructure .
2 ) Anti-virus and Malware Software : It should be installed , enabled and set to update automatically . Free AV software is better than nothing but the old saying of “ you do get what you pay for ” is a wise old saying for a reason .
3 ) Security Updates : Those annoying , “ please do not shut down your computer ” notices contain valuable security patches . Set them to automatically download and install . Restart your computer as soon as the update is available . If your computer is too old to receive any updates , upgrade it at once . It is highly vulnerable to attack .
4 ) Firewall : You should have a firewall . Most likely you do , but is it doing the job ? Firewalls come in many different varieties . There are major differences in how effective they are at stopping intruders from entering your network . If your firewall is older or you purchased it because it was cheaper than the others , you are probably at risk .
5 ) End User Training : Most security breaches are still caused by human error while working on emails . Falling for a phishing scheme or clicking on a bad link is the cause for most successful hacks . Making sure your users are trained to identify and avoid these traps is key to your cyber defense . Following up with testing to see who needs more training is a smart move as well .
28 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE ADVERTORIAL