With extensive databases of medical records containing vital information, data maintenance, storage, and security is an essential part of healthcare. Regardless of how heavily healthcare institutions depend on computers and other electronic devices, not many organizations have a dedicated IT department with the ability to handle the vast amount of equipment requirements. Let our IT experts help with your IT equipment needs. We can flawlessly help save your healthcare institute’s budget, while you help save lives.

With over 50 years’ experience in data security, our IT experts specialize in following HIPAA protocol. We recognize the sensitivity of handling everything from medical records to insurance and patient information. Furthermore, in order to prevent expensive HIPAA fines, we guarantee that no patient medical information of any kind will ever be exposed. Our spotless reputation ensures transactions are handled efficiently, ethically, and securely from start to finish.

Learn how you can be protected against an attack.

So what can hospitals, medical centers, dentists and other healthcare providers do to guard against the threat of cyber-attack? Here is a simple five-point plan that will go a long way to helping healthcare professionals secure their defenses.

Make sure that servers and PCs are up to date with the latest operating systems and antivirus solutions.

Consider if older machines, which are beyond updates or support, could be replaced or retired. The cost of doing so, and inconvenience of replacing older equipment will probably be less than the impact of a data breach.

Make sure everyone in the organization is familiar with ransomware methods and can recognize attempts to gain password credentials or circulate harmful links and attachments. Hospitals employ so many different and diverse professionals, covering a multitude of functions, that there needs to be a culture of vigilance across the entire organization.

Use different credentials for accessing backup storage and maybe even a mixture of file systems to isolate different parts of your infrastructure to slow the spread of ransomware. Healthcare organizations that follow the “1-10-60” rule of cybersecurity will be better placed to neutralize the threat of a hostile adversary before it can leave its initial entry point. The most cyber-prepared healthcare agencies should aim to detect an intrusion in under a minute, perform a full investigation in under 10 minutes, and eradicate the adversary from the environment in under an hour.

Three copies of your data, on at least two different media, with one stored offsite (e.g. cloud or tape) and one stored offline (e.g. tape). Having your data behind a physical air gap creates perhaps the most formidable barrier against ransomware. Tape can greatly speed up your recovery in the hours and days that follow an attack, especially if your primary backups have been disrupted. Tape is also supremely efficient for storing huge amounts of infrequently accessed medical records for a very long time. Tapes can also be encrypted so that even if they did fall into the wrong hands, it would be impossible for thieves to access or use the data.