Healthcare companies have valuable information and data that cyber criminals increasingly target. In fact, in 2022, healthcare was the third most targeted sector because of its sensitive data and information, meaning strong cyber security for healthcare providers is vital.
The effects of a cyber attack can be wide-ranging and long-lasting. Your practice would be in breach of regulations, your reputation could be damaged, and an attack could have a financial impact.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a large or small organisation; you have data that criminals believe is worth trying to steal.
Healthcare providers can be the most vulnerable because they don’t believe threat actors would be interested in them. However, threat actors target them because their cyber security is often weaker than that of larger organisations.
Threat actors search for the slightest weakness in your systems
Any device that can connect or is connected to your systems is vulnerable.
Threat actors are actively targeting the end users via phishing attacks. These have become more sophisticated, such as using emails that can deceive employees into clicking malicious links.
Healthcare cyber security is about striking a balance between protecting your systems and data, providing consistent accessibility and meeting patient expectations. Too much security is as bad as too little if your staff can’t get access to the information they need.
Balancing security and accessibility
To achieve this balance, you’ll need to examine all the types of data and information you hold, create a data strategy (policies, standards, roles, and responsibilities), create a security strategy, and decide on accessibility.
Doing this can be daunting; however, with help from Texaport’s expert consultants, you’ll have the right balance between security and accessibility.
Equally, knowing what data you hold and how it’s stored and accessed helps you meet your regulatory requirements. GPDR consultancy can help you do this.
Making regulations and compliance work for your healthcare practice
The UK GDPR and the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality are the two main regulatory requirements for healthcare organisations. The UK GDPR covers the basis for processing personal data under Article 6 (A Guide to Lawful Basis) and describes how to do this. Health and care data is a special category under Article 9 (What are the conditions for processing?) of the UK GDPR.
The fines for getting this wrong can be costly. The Information Commissioner’s Office fined a London pharmacy £275,000 for serious breaches of the UK GDPR.
The Common Law Duty of Confidentiality covers the disclosing of patient information and consent. As patients become more aware of their data rights, it’s vital that you understand what’s required of your healthcare practice.
In addition to complying with these regulations, you must secure your data and systems. The National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Essentials accreditation is an excellent way to do this, as it helps you protect your practice and shows patients and suppliers you take security seriously.
How a private dental practice extended its contract with a major client
All this can feel overwhelming, especially since cyber security for healthcare providers is critical. You’re not alone. We helped City Health Clinic, a private dental health practice in Edinburgh, which was looking for expert guidance on compliance, IT, and cyber security issues.
We carried out a bespoke audit, provided them with a detailed report and recommendations, and helped them with achieve their Cyber Essentials accreditation.
We also provided them with our UK GDPR consultancy service, which meant they met their regulatory requirements.
This meant that City Health Clinic’s security went above and beyond what their client required, and as a result, the clinic extended its contract with them.
The complexities of cyber security for healthcare
Keeping your practice secure is about more than installing software. The main solutions for protecting your systems and data are:
- Anti-virus and anti-malware to protect all devices
- Firewalls and gateways to control access to your network and devices
- Security and data training for staff
- User-friendly secure password systems
- Keeping all operating systems and software up to date
- Secure, regular backups
Having robust cyber security can also protect your practice against the disruption a cyber attack can cause.
In 2017, the NHS was attacked by ransomware called WannaCry, resulting in 19,000 cancelled appointments. This also disrupted emergency dispatches of patients into accident and emergency departments, causing a major impact across the UK. However, direct healthcare providers are not the only ones who are targeted.
In 2024, NHS partner Synnovis was attacked, causing London hospitals to declare a critical incident.
Strong security practices can help prevent this from happening to your practice. This also allows you to show patients, staff, and suppliers how seriously you take safeguarding their data and information, which helps increase trust.
What to prioritise to keep your data secure
How can you do the above? It starts with risk assessment and preventative measures.
Your risk assessment needs to include:
- Assessing what assets, such as devices, software, systems, services and information, are critical to running your organisation
- What impact would there be if any of these were compromised?
- Assessing the threats to them – who or what could attack them and how?
- Assessing how vulnerable those assets are to attack
With this completed, you can look at how to prevent an attack on each asset.
This is a complex issue; expert help can make it less stressful. At Texaport, our consultants look at every aspect of your practice, including areas you might not have considered, like old, unused, but still connected devices.
Protect your healthcare practice now and in the future
Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated, and with threat actors-for-hire and hacking-as-a-service, more cyber criminals will have access to tools and frameworks to infiltrate and potentially compromise a system.
By making sure your healthcare cyber security is robust this can prevent disruption, financial and reputational damage caused if cyber criminals gain access to your systems. However, doing so is challenging.
Cyber security challenges from all sides
Criminals know your data and records are valuable, and because of this, they will look for vulnerabilities in your network.
That’s not all. Your organisation must comply with the UK GDPR and DPA (Data Protection Act), which are the legal processing requirements for organisations handling sensitive data, this also includes The Common Law Duty of Confidentiality for Healthcare organisations.
Having the Cyber Essentials accreditation can reassure patients and suppliers and help you protect your practice from common cyber attacks.
As your patients look to you for expert help and advice, we can provide specialist cyber security and compliance advice and support for your practice.
Take the first step towards securing your organisation - contact us today.
