Larger hospitals get the headlines when something goes awry, like when a security breach or disaster recovery failure occurs. However, small hospitals are just as vulnerable, if not more so, to cyber security issues. How can you keep these occurrences from affecting your data back up?
First off, passwords are the front line of defense, and you’d be surprised how many organizations have weak passwords that make it easy for malicious individuals to break into networks and steal valuable information, including patient data. Even individuals within a healthcare organization with personal passwords to various folders, documents or computers are vulnerable. A strong password that changes frequently will deter a hacker from gaining access to your files.
What exactly is a strong password? Simply put, it’s one that cannot be guessed. Don’t use the birthdate of any of your children, the maiden name of your mother or your favorite college team’s mascot; these are all bits of information that can be gained with a simple glance at your social media pages. You’re better off choosing random words from the dictionary and replacing specific letters with numbers. In fact, your password should include upper and lower cases, numbers, special characters and should be at least eight characters/digits long.
As a healthcare provider, you must comply with various HIPAA rules that are designed to protect patient information. To ensure that your electronic healthcare records (EHR) are not compromised, you need to pay particular attention to permissions, which include credentials such as user names and passwords. Try setting file access permissions, so a person who has the password to get into a system but doesn’t have authority to access a specific file won’t be able to see the contents of that file. You can do this by using your access control list. This will require someone with the authority, likely an IT administrator, to set up the control list.
For facilities that continue to use compact discs to share and store information, all the safeguards in the world won’t keep that information safe, especially once it’s in the hands of someone outside of the facility. For instance, when a CD is handed off to a patient who is traveling to see a specialist and that CD is lost, you’re not going to be able to ensure that nobody has access to the images on it. There is no data back up in this situation, which is why you need to consider getting rid of the outdated CD burning technology and start storing your images off site.
Images stored off site have more data back up safeguards than you can likely offer at your small facility. If you’re short on physical space to store your medical images, storing them in the cloud has many advantages, including more safeguards that keep the images and data from prying eyes.
Furthermore, when you take on a solution like we offer at OffSite Image Management, Inc., you will have complete access to your images at all times, which means doctors and specialists don’t have to wait for a CD to arrive through the mail – they’ll see the images and data immediately through a secure URL. For more information, contact us today.