In the modern world, digital information has become the quickest, most convenient way of recording and sharing data. The healthcare sector is no exception.
Generated data from bio-informatics, healthcare devices, medical sensors, digi-medicine, among other fields, have come to the forefront of the healthcare sector, with all storage and sharing easily done in digital format.
However, the key issue with digital data is the risk of data theft and information manipulation.
Manipulation of medical information can result in fatal incidents that can ruin your clinic’s reputation or practice. Hackers can advance their sights on all kinds of healthcare data to their advantage, thus cybersecurity in this sector is of utmost importance.
But what is cybersecurity?. Why is it important?. How can you secure your healthcare data?.
What is Cybersecurity?
As a large minority healthcare practitioner have shifted to digital data models to store, retrieve, and modify their medical information, the magnitude of data security breaches has grown exponentially causing severe damages.
Cybersecurity is the combination of technologies and IT practices that reduce the chances of malicious parties breaching your infrastructure and gaining access to your data.
Also known as data security, cybersecurity aims to prevent intrusions by hackers into your IT infrastructure and reduce the chances for such malicious parties to gain viewing or editing access to valuable healthcare data.
Why is Data Security for Healthcare Important?
The healthcare sector yields some of the most valuable pieces of information. Some of the most critical healthcare data types includes:
DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is a global standard for the storing and sharing of digital medical imaging information.
Electronic Medical Records (EMR) contains crucial private data about the health of patients and their medical history.
As hospitals and clinics worldwide are adopting DICOM-based devices, hackers have set their eyes on DICOM data to target patients and extract/manipulate critical information . Similarly, gaining access to patients’ EMR, hackers are using phishing attacks, they are able to gain an unlawful advantage of such patients’ vulnerability.
Such damages caused by the lack of cybersecurity practices in the healthcare sector has reached such an extent that the Singapore Ministry of Health has issued guidelines on cybersecurity practices to be maintained by healthcare companies.
The guidelines also give general regulations to follow, such as two-factor authentication and healthcare companies putting a greater focus on their data’s cybersecurity, as well as stipulating “An advanced security operation center or cyber defense center should be established to improve the ability to detect and respond to intrusions.”
So, what does it take to maintain complete data security?. How do we properly manifest cybersecurity for medical data that not only adheres to the provided guidelines but takes a step further and ensures complete privacy and security of critical healthcare data?
Best Practices for Cybersecurity
There are three main components to ensure complete integrity and security of your healthcare data:
1. Anti Virus
Today, the function of antivirus is far more than just scanning files on your machines.
An antivirus should provide internet protection to block malicious web content. It should provide complete security against external storage drives and data on the cloud.
But most importantly, your antivirus should have the capability of scanning healthcare files, which are unique file types unknown to a majority of the people and antiviruses out there.
Choosing an antivirus that is prepped to face cyber-attacks on a healthcare system can significantly reduce low- to mid-scale attacks on your healthcare data.
2. Firewall
The firewall is a part of the network security infrastructure that regulates and monitors the data packets coming to and going from your healthcare devices.
A firewall’s job is to ensure that data coming from an outside source to your healthcare devices is harmless. It is the first line of defense for your healthcare devices.
Therefore, using firewalls that strengthen your medical device network is fundamental to the cybersecurity of your data.
3. Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VA/PT)
The final pieces to data security are vulnerability assessment and penetration testing.
Vulnerability assessment is the evaluation of your cybersecurity infrastructure. It encompasses the identification and classification of vulnerabilities remaining in your system and prioritizing security measures, its strengths & weaknesses against the same.
A penetration test (pen test) is a simulated cyber-attack on your infrastructure to identify how much attack-load your system can bear and the major threat areas.
VA/PT is the most crucial component to identify vulnerabilities and scale up your defense system. Coupled with the right antivirus and firewall, your healthcare cybersecurity profile can be prepared to a great extent to face multiple cyber-attacks!
Dr Security™ – Managed IT Service
A Managed IT Service is a way for healthcare practitioners and businesses to take complete care of their data security and protection, including its backup & infrastructure support.
It allows a reliable company that already has all the necessary IT system infrastructure setup, the best qualified and experienced system engineers in protecting healthcare data!.
As an IT Managed Service provider, our product Dr Security™ will be able to serve every all the cybersecurity needs and requirements.
Dr. Security™ is a managed IT service that caters to all your cybersecurity needs. By outsourcing your cybersecurity management to Dr. Security™, your business can focus your core offering without worrying about cyber threats and data breaches.
With user security and network security, the right antivirus selection and firewall installation, and ready infrastructure, Dr Security™ gives your data the most secure environment!
Dr. Security™ also sets up your healthcare business with the best VA/PT certified testing houses and gives you detailed reports on the magnitude of security of your data.
We also provide round the clock tech support and continuous, ongoing preventive maintenance; you are free to research and practice within the healthcare sector while we ensure your data is in the right hands.
Moreover, depending on the number of end-users, devices, security feature sets, and manageability coverage of your healthcare business or practice, Dr. Security™ offering comes in three tiers: Lite, Full, and Complex, catering to healthcare businesses of all sizes.
Catering to healthcare businesses of all sizes, Dr Security™ maintains the regulations set by the Singapore Ministry of Health and takes it further to provide total integrity of your healthcare data.
All that without having to maintain a staff, build infrastructure, or invest any time at all thinking of data security. That is the advantage Dr Security™ gives your healthcare business!
Final Words
Information in the healthcare sector is perhaps the most valuable digital data. Cybersecurity services for the healthcare sector have been long overlooked and is extremely vital to your business continuity.
With Dr. Security™, clinics, medical centers and healthcare practitioners such as yourself can rest assured that your data is safe from malicious parties.
With well trained and experience certified system engineers continually upgrading the security level for your data, outsourcing medical data security with Dr. Security™ allows you to prevent medical IT cybersecurity hacking intrusion without having to invest time and effort into maintaining a data-security staff!
To simplify the IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, and other digital services such as data backup and damage prevention for your healthcare business, get in touch with us by leaving your contact information.
We hope this post was informative and insightful. If you have got something to share, we’re eager to hear you out in the comments section!