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5 top tips for good cybersecurity in healthcare

The healthcare industry is the second most attacked sector of the 16 critical infrastructures by cyber criminals. Due to the highly sensitive information they possess, as well as the role they play in our nation’s critical infrastructure, this sector is a prime target for ransomware and phishing.

The two most common forms of cyberattacks in the healthcare industry are ransomware and phishing. Cybercrimals choose ransomware as their preferred method of attack because this industry can’t afford to be down and so they’d rather pay the criminals to gain access to their data.

Phishing is the culprit in a lot of cyberattacks across many industries. The main reason for this is due to many employees not receiving adequate training on what to look out for

Ways to protect healthcare industry from cyberattacks

  1. Protect mobile devices
  2. Install antivirus
  3. Control access to confidential information
  4. Create strong passwords and change them regularly
  5. Limit network access

Protect mobile devices

Laptops and other portable devices have made it easier to work from anywhere. The issue with being able to work from essentially anywhere is it opens the possibilities of new threats. Due to being a portable device, they are easier to steal. Due to these devices being able to be used in a variety of places, extreme caution needs to be utilized by their users to prevent sensitive information from being intercepted by unauthorized parties. When dealing with sensitive information, do not transmit or receive information over a public network without encrypting the information.

Install antivirus

A way attackers compromise computer is using a virus to attack the machine. A computer can become infected if the users utilize outside sources, such as emails, flash drive and downloaded information from the web. It is crucial to have an antivirus program installed with the option to have automatic updates so there is no lapse in security.

Control access to confidential information

Create user credentials using usernames and strong passwords. When creating this setup, it allows users access to specific information on a “need to know” basis. Role-based access can be established as well, such as physician and nurse, who can determine which information can be accessed based on that role, which coincide with the “need to know” portion previously described.

Create strong passwords and change them regularly

Passwords act as a layer to prevent unauthorized parties from accessing information and operate as a first line of defense. Strong passwords are a guarantee to preventing unauthorized parties access, but they can slow down those parties from gaining access.

The recommended number of characters for creating a strong password used to be 8, but in today’s day and age, the new recommended is 12 characters. Cybersecurity experts recommend altering words by using a combination of uppercase and lower case letters, numbers and a special character. The more complex the password the harder it will be the decipher.

Do you work in healthcare and need an assessment? Give a call today!

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