How Poor Web Monitoring And Policies Lead To Wasted Costs And Increased Data Breaches.
Maybe you know someone in your office that is addicted to Buzzfeed (that addictive media site with all sorts of cool and crazy news) or maybe you know someone constantly on Facebook, looking at friend’s updates throughout the day.
Whatever the site, the fact of the matter is that your users are landing online and are most definitely exposed to questionable websites throughout their workday (that is, if you aren’t taking steps to make sure malicious or distracting and unproductive web content is not prevented).
With over 2 zettabytes of data online today (that’s equivalent to 2 TRILLION gigabytes!), there is a LOT of stuff on the network that will not only waste your user’s productivity, but will certainly risk your network from malicious ransom infection.
continue reading
Based on some recent studies out of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology comes alarming evidence that many of us are getting sick from our computers and other electronic devices.
One recent study specifically out of the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill found that bacteria are more than at home on your keyboards and phones, pressing for recommendations to regularly sanitize work spaces to prevent you and your coworkers from getting seriously ill.
The study evaluated several sorts of bacteria and the conclusions were simple: clean up your work space.
continue reading
While many of us may not really care too much if we overstep a few HIPAA regulations because we’re too busy trying to keep our business afloat, we often forget that all security risks are NOT created equal. While some HIPAA regulations may simply protect very minor data leaks [yes, keeping patients safe is definitely your goal, but errors happen], big ransom attacks may cause your business to STOP.
The biggest impact of a ransomware attack? On your medical billing. Without the flow of bills going out and payments getting processed and coming in, how in the heck are you going to pay for your staff and equipment?
With a ransomware attack, will you be able to continue to treat patients? Or will you start having to turn them away because you don’t have their records and don’t want to risk malpractice because your notes aren’t all where they should be (they all are encrypted from that nasty attack that just hit!).
continue reading
Ransomware is hitting the healthcare field more frequently than any other industry. Why?
Hackers and criminals understand that healthcare data is precious. Doctors want to protect their patients. They want to keep their patient records from criminals to protect their identities and prevent data theft. They want preserve a trusting environment where patients can share what is really going on so that proper diagnoses are made and treatments administered. The care about the people under their care and don’t want to compromise best possible care (by keeping meticulous secure records to ensure patients are consistently getting care they need and not having to worry about their identities being compromised).
As a business owner, you worry about your office being up and running when it’s supposed to be. Most importantly so effective treatments are done timely, but also to get billing out and payments in. Essentially, you worry about keeping the lights on, keeping your staff paid, and keeping your medical operations running.
As we put more demands on healthcare—with an aging population or with bouts of emergencies related to outbreaks or illness, we all depend on the healthcare system to run seamlessly. But in talking to doctors and administrators, what I’ve found is that many worry that their data systems are not keeping up with even basic security to prevent them from getting ransomware and data breaches.
continue reading
If you’re like many business owners nowadays, you’re probably considering options when it comes to cyber insurance. Cyber insurance will likely protect you from a variety of liabilities that you’ll incur if a cyberattack successfully penetrates your business network.
Legal Expenses—if your company is in fact breached, you’ll want to get some legal advice to be informed of all of the specific obligations you have under state, federal and local laws. A company needs to move swiftly through a breach to survive and having legal counsel experienced in cyber incidents can make a big difference.
When sensitive data gets leaked, there may be numerous legal up-hill battles in front of your business. Cyber insurance usually includes coverages concerning about any of the legal incidents.
continue reading
It’s the beginning of 2018 and I’m sure you’ve got your business strategy ready (or near ready) to implement for the year. You’re likely concerned about getting more sales, keeping your existing clients happy, keeping your operations smooth, and your business secure.
As business security is becoming an increasing threat for all businesses and security compliance is becoming the rule (rather than simply a suggestion), I wanted to spend a little time today walking through how to prioritize security projects that have the biggest impact for your investment.
Here are the simple rules that I follow when prioritizing IT Security:
Develop your prioritization criteria—as you dive into prioritizing security, you need to identify criteria related to how security efforts will help your business long term in its strategy to both keep users and client data safe, while not impeding on day to day operational efficiency.
continue reading
