Guide to Protecting Your Practice from Ransomware Attacks

The rate of ransomware attacks drastically surged this year. These attacks have cost U.S healthcare providers at least $160 million since 2016. 

As COVID-19 continues to grow, so do cyber attacks. 

Research has found that cyber criminals are taking advantage of the vulnerability of clinics as they struggle to adapt to the changes that the pandemic has caused. Rates of hospital cyber attacks have increased by 60% between February and March 2020, and 26 healthcare providers were hit with a ransomware attack in January to May 2020. 

As digital health continues to grow, it is important to know which virtual care tools to use and what security features to consider when choosing which service to use. 

Software Advice, has created this guide to help better understand the kinds of cyberthreats that and what you can do to prevent these kinds of attacks at your practice.

Steps to protecting your practice from ransomware attacks. 

Keep users informed- Almost 40% of privacy breaches are caused by human error, therefore it is important to continuously train your staff. These training sessions should include; informing your staff of any updates to the clinic's work process, technical training, privacy training, and how to spot cyber attacks. 

Ensure IT compliance - It is important that your practice maintains the rules and regulations in your region to ensure compliance. As well as follow an IT security framework. 

Perform regular data backups - If your practice were ever to be hit with a ransomware attack, it is almost impossible to recover that data. Having an up to date backup of all your clinics data will help save your clinic time and costs to recover from the attack.

Assess your risk - As technology evolves so do cyber criminals. Assessing your clinic's vulnerability is one of the best ways to ensure your practice remains protected and compliant. 

Consider Insurance - Incase your practice is unable to complete the previous steps, there are insurance policies that will cover ransomware attacks. 

Secure-Mail ensures the protection of your practice and patients private health information. The Brightsquid privacy team has helped many clinics that suffered privacy breaches recover. For more information on Brightsquid’s privacy services, click here.