Cloud Backup Services Can Help Protect You From Data Breaches
The finger pointing is as ceaseless as the increasingly damaging attacks from hackers, yet healthcare providers are finding cloud backup services to be a quality preventative resource to keep data protected but also available at all times.
Data breaches are seemingly a fact of life these days as foreign computer experts hack into medical systems across the nation. It’s a problem that has cost the industry $6.2 billion, according to some estimates. About 90 percent of organizations responding to a recent survey said they have suffered at least one hacking experience in the last two years, and nearly half said they’ve had more than five (though some of those were minor).
The top three attacks are denial-of-service, malware and ransomware. However, there is also the issue of employee fault, which is due mostly to mobile device insecurity and the use of public Wi-Fi hotspots that make mobile devices a perfect target.
Most healthcare organizations will admit that they’re not ready to correctly handle these attacks, which are on the rise due to the fact that healthcare data is quite valuable to hackers. Regardless, different entities within the healthcare industry are pointing fingers, laying blame to others instead of stepping up and making themselves accountable.
Breaches get a lot of attention because the patient identity is compromised and because the facility that gets hit is often handed some stiff penalties for failing to live up to the regulations set forth in HIPAA.
Some of the most recent data breaches involved a Detroit-based hospital where 2,800 patients had their information compromised due to an unencrypted flash drive that got lost in the mail. Another occurred in Omaha, NE, where someone gained access to the payroll information system. Finally, there is the case in the UK where more than 15,000 new and expectant mothers were informed that their data had been stolen, including their email addresses, user names and passwords.
Rather than make upgrades to onsite datacenters or investing in a newer, more secure PACS, medical image professionals are seeking out cloud backup services, which are not only more secure and reduce the workload on in-house IT professionals, it also helps them to save money.
The best medical image management providers are using the cloud to back up data and make it available 24/7. They can do this because the data is backed up in multiple, high-level data centers where security is a priority. Furthermore, these data centers are geographically diverse, which means if a disaster should befall one region, the data will be safe in a separate region’s center.
OffSite Image Management, Inc., is a company that is focused on protecting data at all costs, yet offers cost savings to clients. We use Level IV data centers, which means your medical image data is safe from malicious hackers. Furthermore, OffSite is your 360-degree solution for anything related to medical imaging.