How To Protect Your 牙科 Practice From Cybercrime
网络罪犯才不在乎你, 你的员工, or the fact that you are just trying to service patients and make an honest living owning and managing a dental practice. They’re just looking to steal your money. 这样做的时候, more and more bad actors are choosing to deploy one of the most despicable tools possible to meet their goal – Ransomware – and the impact is being felt far and wide.
When a bad actor convinces you or one of 你的员工 to click on a bad link, they are ultimately successful in gaining access to your computer, 你的诊所网络, 还有你的生计. 然后, they proceed to lock you out and demand a hefty ransom in return for a key or passcode to gain access to it again. This is truly a sinister plot because even though they might grant you entry into your practice’s database once again, chances are good that they will lock you out again at some point in the future and demand an even greater payment.
Ransomware has helped cybercriminals take down countless small businesses. 事实上, small- to mid-sized organizations are most at risk because they are unlikely to have the financial support necessary to recover from a cyberattack.
话虽如此, when it comes to dental practices and other organizations in the healthcare space, the impact of a Ransomware attack may actually be worse. Because of your responsibilities under HIPAA, you are at an even greater risk of not being able to recover from an attack because of the added penalties and fines associated with the breach of confidential records.
So, what can you do to protect your practice, your data, and yourself?
Listen to episode 169, “The 网络安全 Battle Plan For Businesses,” on 不适合在意图电台播放,意图 & 比较靠谱的赌博软件’ award-winning weekly 播客.
4 Tips To Help Prevent A Ransomware Attack
To protect your business against Ransomware and other similar threats, I recommend following these best practices:
1. 培训员工识别网络钓鱼邮件
Numerous vendors can provide your dental practice with phishing tests and video training to help educate your office’s staff about 网络钓鱼电子邮件 以及识别可能的骗局的方法. Bad actors are always looking for ways to trick you and your staff to click on something you should be clicking on. 你必须时刻保持警惕. The goal is to change the mindset of those within your practice when it comes to opening attachments and clicking on hyperlinks.
2. Monitor Microsoft Active Directory Administrative rights.
It’s unlikely that all 你的员工 will need full access to your practice’s entire database to do their jobs effectively. 一种方法 保护你的资料 is to only grant access to the databases each employee needs to do perform their job duties.
3. 实施端点保护
端点安全性或 端点保护 is a standard approach to the protection of computers that are part of a network. 笔记本电脑的连接, 平板电脑, 移动电话, 物联网设备, and other wireless devices to corporate networks creates attack paths for security threats. Endpoint Protection works by recognizing threats and preventing them from exploiting the machine they are found on while hindering the ability for the threat to migrate to other endpoints.
4. Implement Lifecycle Management For Old Computers\Software
Lifecycle management refers to the administration of selecting, 采购, 使用, and ultimately removing assets from the network. 这包括硬件(笔记本电脑), 服务器, desktops) as well as software (patching, 更新, 和迁移). When an asset becomes “End of Life,” or “sunset,” the developer will cease to create 更新和补丁 对于那个特定的软件. At times, software providers will only continue to support their product on specific hardware. The actions of stopping support for software and/or software can significantly increase the likelihood of suffering a cybersecurity incident.
Don’t Let A Cyberattack Ruin Your 牙科 Practice
网络犯罪不会消失. Cybercriminals have already triggered public relations nightmares for large businesses and have entirely destroyed the livelihood of small business owners. Don’t let your dental practice become easy prey. In addition to utilizing the best practices outlined above, call 意图’s cybersecurity and data protection services team. 作为团队的领导者, I work closely with dental professionals and have worked to understand the unique challenges dentists face in this area. Give me a call today to set up a free consultation to determine where your practice is most vulnerable.
By 特拉维斯·斯特朗，CISA (伍斯特哦)
Looking for additional tools and insight to help protect your dental practice from cybercrime? 看看这些资源:
[ON-DEMAND WEBINAR] Are 网络安全 Concerns Putting Your 牙科 Practice At Risk?
[ARTICLE] Are There Holes In Your Data Security Infrastructure?