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Cyberthreats can put patients at risk, making cybersecurity protections crucial for dental and medical offices. 

Cybercriminals Targeting the Healthcare Industry

Unfortunately, healthcare organizations are targeted by cybercriminals due to the value of patient information. The type of data that cybercriminals target includes social security numbers, credit card information, patient’s personal health information, as well as medical research. These records can score cybercriminals up to $408 PER PATIENT. Making matters worse, it can cost practices three times a typical stolen record’s cost to remediate the breach of a stolen health record. Regulatory fees, practice downtime, and remediation requirements (consultants, cyber-recovery contractors, etc.) add up quickly for practices affected by personal health information (PHI) breaches.

Patient Safety

In order to protect patient safety, it is important to focus on cybersecurity so that personal, health-related matters are kept private. Losing personal records to ransomware can hinder the ability to effectively provide care for a patient, which is the number one priority. Data can be stolen or even altered which can drastically effect patient’s health and quality of care.

How to Prioritize Cybersecurity

Although cybercriminals have become more creative with their attacks against healthcare practices, prioritizing your cybersecurity measures is the first step in the right direction. Additionally, ensuring all employees are knowledgeable about this pressing issue and what measures to take to keep information secure is imperative. Cybersecurity should be an ongoing conversation with everyone involved. All employees should know the risks as well as how to avoid them.