Increase your Healthcare Cybersecurity

 

Cybersecurity is a good thing because no one cares about data from healthcare providers.

Wait a minute...

You may be focusing on saving money for your company, but you are not considering cybersecurity breaches as one of the most costly problems in healthcare. According to estimates, each breach can cost a provider more than $400 per patient. The year 2018 has been a record year for healthcare data breaches. Nearly 900,000. people were affected by the April breaches.

That's all that was reported.

But IT, especially cyber security provider, is not your department. This is your problem. It's because your next breach could be your fault. This is not a harsh statement. It's simply a fact. Hacker incidents are rare.

Most breaches are caused by simple errors or carelessness.

What can you do to protect your data?

1. Control Access

Accessing your system from different locations is just as important as how they access it. We hope that no patient can walk free from the ER and through the hallways. (Although it is well-known that there are still hospitals where patients can go straight from the front door to an OR without having to show a badge or turn a key, we hope.

You should ensure that only authorized individuals have access to your areas. This may seem obvious, but think about how many places you can access with your keys. Do you have computers or tablets in these rooms?

This is just the most basic access. Different types of records and providers should be available to different individuals on a cybersecurity level. Each of these access levels should be password protected.

Think about your coworkers. Most likely, you know at least one of their passwords. What number of people do you know about yours?

Talking of...

 

2. Make Strong Passwords

Each website has a different requirement for passwords. You can use uppercase, lowercase and punctuation, but not that punctuation. This is probably why you may have several variations of the same password you use everywhere.

Isn't it easier for someone who has access to your password to guess it all?

Who uses the same password to access everything? Manufacturers. They start with a default password on anything they send out that needs a password. What happens if a hacker finds the default password to an MRI machine that is connected to the internet? The hacker can access any MRI machine that is connected to the internet.

Unless the hospital changed passwords from default immediately after the machine was purchased.

Change your passwords. (P4ssw0rD123, however, is not a safe option.

3. Know What You Have

What do you know about the Internet Of Things, devices that connect to the internet? Secure every device that connects to your hospital's internet connection must be.

Notice that we didn't say "every single device you brought into your hospitals". You have the right to access every iPad and laptop, as well as any internet-connected pacemaker, that passes through your doors.

You should have unique passwords and network connections to all internet-connected devices. Also, monitor what users do on those connections.

4. Keep up-to-date with your technology

This one is easy. The more vulnerable a system is, if it's older. Technology released one year ago has less protections than technology today. The further back you go, the longer hackers have had to figure out how to breach those defenses.

In the 1980s, there was a documentary about a young man who nearly started WWIII using a primitive computer. Imagine what hackers today could do with those systems.

(Okay, it might not have been a documentary. We stand firm on our point.

5. Be Prepared for the Worst

It will happen. It will happen, sorry. You need to report a breach as soon as it is discovered. This could be a thief with a laptop leaving the hospital or an employee accessing patient records via McDonald's wifi. Please, please, don't use unsecure networks to conduct business.

To deal with breaches, your organization must have a plan. This is not just your responsibility. Talk about it with your IT department, those you answer to, as well as the people who answer directly to you. Learn how to admit to a breach, and what actions you can take.