Are you Preparing for a Cyber Attack? You Should Be

Are you preparing for a cyber attack? We live in a world of constant innovation and instant gratification.  The 24-hour news cycle has been supplanted by the 140+-character scoop and this morning’s update is this evening’s old news.  The pace of change and modernization for society can only be rivaled by the creativity and persistence of those that would seek to profit from the slightest vulnerabilities of the systems the world has learned to not live without.  The advent of social media and smartphones have created a world where instant information is not a luxury, but a necessity.  Search engines have replaced the need for actual knowledge in favor of knowing where to find what you need at a moment’s notice.  And where can you find anything you need?  Online, of course.

And in this ever-connected world, it’s naïve to think that criminals aren’t evolving just as fast, if not faster.  As long as there have been opportunities for deceit, deceivers have been creative.  Always staying one step ahead of the law, one move ahead in the game.  Until the good guys catch up to them, which they always do.  Until the next innovative mastermind finds a new way to cheat the system.

And healthcare technology is no exception.  In fact, it’s become one of the primary targets of cyber-attacks.  As soon as a health record, social security number, or date of birth was made available online, a criminal started working on a way to profit from it.  To that end, it is the responsibility of healthcare organizations to care for their patients, including their personal health information (PHI).  When patients visit hospitals or clinics for treatment, they inherently trust that that hospital or clinic is doing everything in its power to protect them – from germs, from infection, from death … and without saying so or even realizing it, from cyber-crime.

Are you doing everything you can to protect your patients? Are you preparing for a cyber attack?