By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    improving patient experience
    6 Ways to Improve Patient Satisfaction Within Hospitals
    December 1, 2021
    degree for healthcare job
    What Are The Health Benefits Of Having A Degree?
    March 9, 2022
    custom software development is changing healthcare
    Digital Customer Journey Mapping and its Importance for Healthcare
    July 21, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Patient Perception
    Medical Scrubs And Patient Perception: How Clothing Affects Patient Trust
    July 11, 2023
    How Would You Choose The Best Medical Clothing And Gloves?
    September 15, 2021
    MTBI Testing Helps Get Settlements to Cover Medical Bills
    April 16, 2024
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 20, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 20, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 20, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: 4 Helpful Tips on How to Protect Your Medical Practice Against Cyber Attacks
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Health > 4 Helpful Tips on How to Protect Your Medical Practice Against Cyber Attacks
HealthPolicy & LawTechnology

4 Helpful Tips on How to Protect Your Medical Practice Against Cyber Attacks

Ryan Kh
Ryan Kh
Share
6 Min Read
healthcare cybersecurity
Shutterstock Licensed Photo - By LeoWolfert | stock photo ID: 1102474532
SHARE

As the healthcare industry becomes more reliant on electronic patient data, the same technological capacity enables cyber-attacks to be more sophisticated and damaging to medical practices. Unfortunately, many fail to protect their practice against cyber-attacks due to a lack of knowledge, negligence, and lack of appropriate tools.

Contents
  • 1. Make an extra effort to secure electronic devices.
  • 2. Ensure all your software and operating systems are up to date
  • 3. Educate your staff on how to detect potential cyber-attacks and enforce cyber security.
  • 4. Implement systems that prioritize data privacy and security

Healthcare data breach statistics identify hacking and unauthorized access to protected health information (PHI) as the leading causes of healthcare data breaches. Access to PHI is a valuable resource for data theft and cyber extortion, which makes it a tempting target for cyber-attacks or attempts to steal and expose information through unauthorized access to computer systems.

Facing this challenge, your practice must take robust actions to protect your system from malicious attacks while maintaining quality patient care. Here are four helpful and efficient tips in protecting and enhancing your healthcare cybersecurity.

1. Make an extra effort to secure electronic devices.

Electronic devices have systems commonly designed to perform a range of specific tasks. However, these devices may not have the extra capabilities to support security mechanisms.

More Read

Maine Versus Vermont
Device Alerts Patients They Are Close to a Heart Attack
FDA Accepts NDA for VIVUS’ Qnexa
Doximity-Medical App
The Importance of Human Touch in Clinical Medicine

Hackers are most likely to access health data through lost or stolen laptops. Uncomplicated security controls in these devices, such as weak passwords, are easily hacked with software that generates a large number of password options. To prevent this from happening, ensure that all devices in your office are stored securely at the end of every shift.

Moreover, ensure that your devices have additional security features in addition to passwords. Encryption — the process of transforming data into an unreadable format — is essential to electronic data security. Authorized persons can only access this by using an encryption key — a series of algorithms used to encrypt and decrypt data.

2. Ensure all your software and operating systems are up to date

Using outdated software and operating systems puts your practice to great threats. Old versions of software and systems have vulnerabilities that make it easier for hackers to infiltrate. Moreover, they are susceptible to viruses that can cause significant damage to your healthcare services.

For instance, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine compromised with a virus due to outdated software may provide delayed or inaccurate results. Additionally, out-of-date electronic health records (EHR) or communications software can lead to increased cybersecurity risks as well as unsatisfactory patient experiences. 

Software and operating systems require periodic updates to keep it secure and add improved features. Many of these updates address vulnerabilities, which is critical to maintaining a secure system.

Other than keeping the software and operating systems updated, you and your team must be extra careful in installing additional software applications:

  • Uninstall software applications unnecessary to running your practice, such as games, social media apps, photo-sharing applications, etc.
  • When installing an application, make sure to read the terms and conditions. Do not simply accept configurations. Deceptive software exist that contain potent viruses
  • Disable remote file sharing and limit network access within your system
  • Install up-to-date and well-maintained antivirus software

3. Educate your staff on how to detect potential cyber-attacks and enforce cyber security.

Today’s cyber attackers don’t just target technology. They also take advantage of human negligence and ignorance.

Educating your medical staff on the value of health data security is critical in protecting your practice from cyber threats. They must be well-informed about what constitutes a cyber-attack and how to counteract them.

The following are common situations where attempts of a cyber-attack can take place:

  • Having weak passwords makes your practice more vulnerable to hacking 
  • Receiving malware emails pretending to offer tempting services or discounts 
  • Visiting unsafe websites and following suspect links 

To avoid being a victim of a cyber-attack, share these crucial cybersecurity tips with your staff:

  • Do not open malicious emails — use your work email solely for medical transactions
  • Implement a strict policy on surfing the internet — only access sites and applications dedicated to work
  • Use a strong, unique password for every device and user account 
  • Remind your staff to change their passwords periodically 

4. Implement systems that prioritize data privacy and security

Now that many medical professionals have adopted telemedicine into their practice, it’s vital to have the right platform for patient data security. A telemedicine system must have the following features:

  • Integrates EHR
  • Allows HIPAA-compliant patient communication 
  • Supports and safeguards workflows

EHRs are a crucial part of any practice because both physicians and patients rely on them for data processing and sharing. Achieving HIPAA compliance in healthcare is critical to protecting sensitive health information. System integration allows your clinic to operate smoothly.

Fortunately, Curogram is 100% HIPAA compliant, which means every patient communication, including PHII, your practice sends or receives is protected. You can send and receive HIPAA-compliant text messages as part of the comprehensive practice management solution.

Knowing the increasing risks of cyber attacks, your medical practice must review cybersecurity risks and introduce best practices and processes to protect your devices and patient welfare.

TAGGED:cyberattackcybersecuritymedical practicesprotect medical practice
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share
By Ryan Kh
Follow:
Ryan Kh is an experienced blogger, digital content & social marketer. Founder of Catalyst For Business and contributor to search giants like Yahoo Finance, MSN. He is passionate about covering topics like big data, business intelligence, startups & entrepreneurship. Email: ryankh14@icloud.com

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Pushback On My Medicare Proposals

August 12, 2011
Image
FinanceHealth Reform

Leapfrog Exposes High Cost of Hospital Rework

July 28, 2013

Mayo Clinic Video–Know Your Numbers Blood Pressure, Lipids and BMI

January 5, 2012
ED throughput measures Ebola prevention
Health ReformHospital AdministrationPublic Health

Ebola Response: 5 ED Throughput Measures Your ED Needs

October 6, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?