Tips for Practicing Better Cyber-Hygiene
By Sam Munakl
Today, every organization, no matter how large or small, faces cyber risks. Give importance to cybersecurity for your dental practice.
It’s a fact: digital technology is a part of life. Year after year, our daily operations become more and more dependent on it. And why shouldn’t it? Technology helps us simplify our day, streamline our workflow, make every convenience more, well, convenient.
With so much to love about technology, there is a more sinister side that makes most of us uncomfortable: cyberattacks.
You may think that hackers never target small dental practices. That is false and dangerous thinking.
Hackers assume small dental practices don’t have the capacity to maintain a robust cybersecurity system. They also assume that dental practices hold a large amount of sensitive/private data.
With the rapid growth of technology and the data produced, dental practices are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks. A data breach or cyberattack often results in not only significant financial loss, but can severely damage the brand equity built into a practice.
Every dental office should prioritize their cybersecurity. If you don’t have a plan in place, get one today. A strong defense is your best bet to avoid a cyberattack and the losses that come with it.
6 Steps to Protect Your Practice From Cyberattacks
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Cyber-Readiness Plan
The success and survival of your business will be determined by your ability to overcome security threats or breaches. You might have great faith in your cyberdefenses and your IT department, but when was the last time you did a system-wide test? When was the last time you made a full disaster recovery plan or even performed a full backup test? If you haven’t done that this year, it’s time to do so. Go as far as simulating a ransom attack: shut everything down and check your downtime. How long does it take to get everything back, up, and running?
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Keep Updates Up to Date
Outdated software can leave your system wide open with vulnerabilities that can be very easily eradicated with a simple software update. Many people will initially be reluctant to jump on the latest version of software for fear of new threats being introduced. In today’s technical landscape, the latter is no longer a justifiable concern.
Updates usually introduce new or enhanced features into apps, programs, and systems, but also install security and performance fixes known as patches. Undiscovered defects or flaws can leave your systems exposed.
Hackers will exploit any vulnerability or security gap they find. Keeping your systems updated is vital for keeping your business cyber-ready. Many organizations rely solely on their IT to check on patches. Ask your IT today when the last updates were run.
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Security Awareness Training & Access Control
Users are the weakest link in security, given a lack of education and experience. Instituting a security awareness training program for every member of your staff will significantly reduce the probability of user-related errors and exposures and implement Privileged Access Management (PAM) best practices and solutions to control administrative users (i.e., sysadmins, DB admins, or user admins) access to critical and sensitive IT systems, applications, and workloads, and limit access to only what the user needs.
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Know Your Data
A company cannot fully know how much is at risk until they understand the nature and the amount of data they have. When you know your data makeup and storage location, you can plan to prioritize in the event of a breach, securing all sensitive data first utilizing encryption and monitoring software.
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Consider Cyber Insurance
In an increasingly digital business environment, it pays for companies to have a cyber insurance policy to help cover for the financial losses if a cyberattack does occur.
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Partner With a Cybersecurity Consultant
As you know, HIPAA guidelines enforce the protection of data. As technology becomes more and more powerful, so, too, do security risks. Choose a cybersecurity expert with an understanding of the specific needs of your practice and who can formulate solutions specific to protecting confidentiality, integrity, and safeguarding files from unauthorized access, cloud threats, employee error, ransomware, and phishing attacks.
Sam Munakl
Chief Executive Officer Cytek
Sam holds a Master’s Degree in Cyber Security. Cytek’s technology is deployed on over four million endpoints and protects hundreds of enterprise clients worldwide, including Fortune 100 organizations and government institutions.