Healthcare Security Part II: Technology and Networking Security

Potential cyberthreats are not new to healthcare organi­za­tions. Yet the FBI and other United States government organi­za­tions have said that they have evidence of increased and imminent threat to health care providers. Now more than ever, healthcare providers actively must dodge these threats, which is growing increas­ingly difficult. In 2021, it is essential that the healthcare industry partners with managed services providers to prepare imminent attacks.

What are the most common cybersecurity threats healthcare providers see?

When you hear the words CYBER­SE­CURITY ATTACK, you probably think of high-level hacking or your records being leaked to nefarious sources, which certainly DOES happen. However, the more common threats are simple mistakes that can happen anytime. Something as simple as faxing infor­mation to the wrong healthcare provider or even email conver­sa­tions between staff about patient infor­mation when they do not have the consent to do so. Another common threat is born from curiosity, such as staff accessing records to which they do not have consent to access such as a friend or fellow coworker.

But how can a nurse access these files if they are filed electron­i­cally? This is a prevailing downfall to electronic health records (ERHs). ERHs are available to all nurses, meaning that a nurse can access the records of any patient in the system, including those who are not their patients. While these breaches can be accidental, they are still breaches. Healthcare providers face strict liability for protecting a patient’s records. When these well-inten­tioned mistakes happen, a healthcare provider is at risk of heavy penalties and fines.

Some healthcare organi­za­tions may be well taken care of through their internal I.T. depart­ments — and that’s GREAT — but many health care execu­tives are facing overload, budget constraints, and confusion. That is where managed I.T. services providers (MSPs) can bring value. Technology and techno­logical compliance are two extremely important elements of running any healthcare organi­zation. Managed IT services can be the solution. Below are benefits of using IT services for healthcare organi­za­tions. That’s why we started our own IT Managed Services company, Heron Managed Services, to address the networking and cyber­se­curity aspects of your holistic security needs.