The healthcare industry continues to embrace digital transformation and relies on technology for efficient operations. With this technology adaptation, vulnerability to cybersecurity threats is prevalent. How are you ensuring that your pertinent data is protected and your healthcare IT security secure? Keeping patient data secured, maintaining the integrity of healthcare systems and making sure that care and delivery are uninterrupted should be a major priority in the healthcare sector.
In this blog, we want to discuss six essential ways that the healthcare sector can bolster its cybersecurity measures to mitigate risks and safeguard sensitive data. Let’s get started:
- Implement Robust Access Controls and Authentication: A primary step in bolstering your healthcare IT security is to implement strong access controls and authentication protocols. It’s imperative for healthcare organizations to adopt safety protocols to prevent unauthorized access. These protocols can include MFA or multi-factor authentication. MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring multiple forms of identification. Overall, access privileges should be limited to avoid exposing sensitive data.
- Regularly Update and Patch Systems and Software: Outdated software and unpatched systems are no joke and could pose a significant security risk that cybercriminals can exploit. Healthcare organizations must establish a process to ensure patches are in place and updates are made regularly. An automated patch tool can help streamline this process to mitigate any potential risk.
- Conduct Regular Risk Assessments and Security Audits: Proactively identifying vulnerabilities and risks is essential to keeping sensitive data protected. Performing regular risk assessments and security audits can help to identify potential weaknesses in IT infrastructures, policies and procedures. Two common tests that healthcare organizations can perform are a penetration test and vulnerability scan—an easy way to detect threats and security gaps before they are exploited. If your internal team is not able to perform these audits, then we recommend partnering with an external cybersecurity expert to help.
- Provide Ongoing Employee Training and Awareness: Did you know that your employees play a critical role in maintaining your cybersecurity? Many cyberattacks result from human error, such as falling victim to faulty links or downloading attachments that can wreak havoc on your computer. Ongoing training educates employees about the latest threats, best practices and enables them to identify and report suspicious activities. Healthcare organizations should establish clear procedures and policies to help employees prepare for an attack.
- Encrypt Data and Implement Strong Data Loss Prevention Measures: Encrypting sensitive patient data is essential to safeguard against unwarranted attacks. Utilizing encryption technologies for data can ensure that information remains secure—even if it is intercepted or hacked. Overall, encryption can help detect and prevent unauthorized access of sensitive data, reducing the risk of a data breach.
- Establish a robust Incident Response Plan: No matter how prepared your business is, cybersecurity incidents can still occur. To minimize these incidents, healthcare organizations must have a well-defined incident response plan in place. This plan needs to include a clear outline for steps that can detect, contain, mitigate and recover if an event were to occur. Regularly testing your plan can help identify gaps and improve the organization’s ability to respond effectively to threats.
How Securus Systems Can Ensure Your Safety
In the face of evolving cyber threats, it’s imperative that the healthcare sector takes proactive steps to bolster their cybersecurity measures. This is where <Company Name> can help—we are cybersecurity experts that know the healthcare industry and how to find the right IT solutions for your healthcare organization. We can help you implement security measures, proactively monitor your IT infrastructure and fortify your cybersecurity defenses. You have lives to save, so let us handle your cybersecurity.
Contact us today to see how we can help.
