5 Ways to Help Protect Your Medical Practice from Cybercrime

Looking to protect your medical practice from ransomware and other cyber threats?

The health care industry is a big target for cyber criminals.

Why is this?

Clinics, hospitals, and health-care providers are treasure troves for hackers. Personal information, sensitive data, and financial information are there for the taking for those who are patient and cunning. And cyber criminals are extremely patient and cunning.

To compound matters during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. And European medical providers have seen a surge of attacks. Cyber criminals are opportunists, and they are ready to take advantage of any situation where you might be compromised. The pandemic has certainly compromised many.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint website has logged millions in complaints.

With the rise in attacks, and some workers working remotely, owners and managers need to stay especially vigilant. Here are five tips that help can help you protect your medical practice from cybercrime.

1. Layer your defenses

One of the best ways to protect your data is by layering your network defenses. Because there is no single piece of hardware or software that will prevent all the numerous threats out there, building up layers can make it much harder for determined criminals to breach your defenses.

2. Educate your staff

You can’t defend against what you don’t know. It’s important you and your staff are aware of the types of cyber attacks that are being made. Know about social engineering, business email compromise, and ransomware and the various malware that can cripple your systems or even take you out of business.

3. Keep it updated

Ensure all your software, anti-virus, and other apps and security remain up-to-date. There’s usually a good reason for most updates. Oftentimes, vulnerabilities are shored up and defenses are beefed up. Keeping things out-of-date may keep a window open for hackers to exploit.

4. Think before you click

Foster the mentality of thinking before clicking on something. This is especially true when something seems fishy, overly urgent, or has hyperlinks and/or attached documents. Even if the sender appears to be from a colleague or trusted source, always take the time to make sure. Hackers are getting better at impersonating people and companies.

5. Make backups. The right kind of backups.

Most are in agreement data backups must be made. But what kind? Backups must be verified regularly, replicated off-site, and should be image-based. You must be able to get back to business in the case of disaster.

Enjoy these tips? Check out more tips from the Thrive blog.