Healthcare organizations are top targets for today’s cybercriminals. Patient records contain sensitive data like birthdays, Social Security numbers, and payment information.
Hackers seek out this information to conduct identity theft, sell on the dark web, or even blackmail target organizations using ransomware.
It is more important than ever for hospitals, insurance providers, and other healthcare organizations to put safeguards in place to protect this sensitive information.
With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of best practices for healthcare organizations to implement so that you and your patients can feel at peace.
Key Takeaways
- Healthcare organizations are popular targets for cyber attacks due to the electronic health records they store.
- Ongoing risk assessment, access control, and third-party vendor management helps healthcare organizations keep these security risks at bay.
- Providing training for employees and putting an incident response plan in place helps your entire team stay prepared for security challenges.
- Working with a managed services provider can help you put a viable security strategy in place for your organization.
Best Practices for Healthcare Cybersecurity
Recent incidents like the 2024 Change Healthcare cyberattack have illustrated just how dangerous data breaches can be to the healthcare industry.
The attack interfered with operations at healthcare organizations offices across the country and exposed healthcare records for hundreds of patients.
Because of the sensitive patient data healthcare organizations are responsible for, they need to implement stricter cybersecurity protocols than businesses in many other industries.
Healthcare organizations are also subject to HIPAA and other industry-specific compliance standards that require data privacy.
Below we’ve listed some of the cybersecurity best practices that all healthcare organizations should consider.
Risk Assessment and Management
Conducting regular risk assessments help you identify where your vulnerabilities are so you can put strategies in place to address them.
The most effective way to conduct a risk assessment is to hire a third-party cybersecurity expert. It can be difficult to conduct these assessments internally, as it’s difficult for your team to identify their own blind spots.
A risk assessment involves a detailed evaluation of your current digital systems and cybersecurity measures. In particular, you’ll look for areas where sensitive data isn’t properly protected.
These audits should be conducted regularly so you can update your security measures accordingly. Cybercriminals are constantly developing new digital attacks to reflect changes in technology, and detailed risk assessments can help you prepare.
Once you’ve assessed current cybersecurity risks, you’ll need to decide how to manage them. Implementing trusted security postures, such as the NIST cybersecurity framework, is a good starting point, but you’ll need to customize your exact strategy to suit your organization’s needs.
Data Protection Strategies
As a healthcare provider, you collect a large volume of patient information through your day-to-day operations.
This data needs to be protected to preserve patient privacy, comply with HIPAA, and prevent operational disruptions.
Between fines, the cost of data recovery, and loss of revenue, the average data breach in the healthcare industry costs $9.8 million, so there’s also a financial incentive to keep your healthcare data safe.
This starts by storing your data securely. If you opt to store your data with a cloud provider, that provider should be vetted extensively to ensure they are HIPAA-compliant.
If you store your data in on-premise servers, these servers should be placed in restricted areas with limited access. Data in both on-premise and cloud servers should also be encrypted for an extra level of protection.
Additionally, data should be backed up at regular intervals to prevent losses. Data losses can happen accidentally as a result of human error or even natural disasters, and it can also happen as a result of cyber attacks.
Important Tip: Healthcare data backups should be stored in a different location than your primary servers. This way, if your servers are physically compromised, you’ll still have backup copies.
Access Control and Authentication
Cyber incidents in the healthcare sector often start when a threat actor gets unauthorized access to protected systems. Putting strong access control protections in place can help prevent this from happening.
Access control starts by determining who can access which parts of your systems. For many healthcare providers, this means using the principle of least privilege.
The principle of least privilege involves providing employees with only the system access they need to provide patient care and fulfill their job duties.
Employees should also lose access to systems immediately after leaving your organization. This helps reduce the risk of former employees becoming insider threats.
Requiring multi-factor authentication (MFA) for your employees adds another layer of security to your systems.
With MFA, users need to verify their identity with a third piece of information after entering their username and password. This verification usually happens with a code sent via email or SMS.
Security Awareness and Training
Your entire team needs to be aware of possible security threats, regardless of their job description. Many security incidents happen as a result of employees accidentally exposing protected health information.
In particular, many incidents start when employees fall victim to phishing and other forms of social engineering. Social engineering happens when a hacker pretends to be a trusted contact, tricking the victim into providing sensitive information.
Providing regular security training sessions for your employees will help your organization avoid these devastating attacks.
With training, employees will learn how to spot and report potential cybersecurity attacks, keeping your team and your patients safe.
Your IT team can even use simulated phishing attacks to test employee preparedness. In these attacks, you will send out a fake phishing message to see which employees respond. This will help you identify which employees need more cybersecurity training.
Incident Response Planning
Unfortunately, even the most secure healthcare organizations could fall victim to data breaches and cyber attacks. Cybercriminals are constantly adjusting their strategies to take advantage of newfound technological vulnerabilities.
Robust incident response planning ensures that you are prepared for any security breaches that come your way. Having a plan in place allows you to respond more quickly and prioritize patient safety and privacy.
A detailed incident response plan should specify which steps to take to protect your systems. This could include:
- Shutting down certain systems
- Changing access protocols
- Relying on data backups
Your incident response plan should also specify which employees should handle which tasks in the event of an emergency. The plan should outline how you plan to communicate with your patients about the data breach and what steps you will take to remedy the problem.
This incident response plan should be made available to all employees so they can prepare for possible security risks.
Vendor and Third-Party Management
Many healthcare providers work with third-party software and medical device vendors for various aspects of their operations. However, these third-party organizations could expose your systems to new security risks if you aren’t careful.
These vendors should be vetted extensively before starting a partnership. Ideally, third-party vendors should already have experience working with healthcare providers and understand the unique security and compliance requirements of this industry.
Third-party partners should also be willing to commit to a cybersecurity agreement and follow HIPAA guidelines.
Reassess your third-party relationships on a regular basis to ensure that they are still the right fit for your organization’s needs.
How Can an MSP Help You?
A managed IT services provider, or MSP, is an organization that provides information technology and security services on a third-party basis. By working with an MSP like Tech Advisors, you get access to cybersecurity experts and advanced tools that you wouldn’t have access to in-house.
MSPs offer customized service packages to meet your needs. For example, an MSP can help you develop your cybersecurity strategy, provide 24/7 monitoring, offer training for your staff, and prepare an incident response plan.
If your healthcare organization does not have a cybersecurity strategy in place, now’s the time to build one with an MSP as your expert partner.
