The healthcare industry provides good quality patient care. Thus, they need to invest in healthcare information security. It will help them secure their systems and information.
Besides, hackers love to target healthcare and other related industries. In fact, we can almost always read news about healthcare data breaches.
But, why would someone want to hack systems in healthcare? And why is healthcare information security so important?
The Value of Healthcare Information Security
First, healthcare information is one of the easiest to hack. Only a few hospitals and related companies invest in security systems.
Also, this industry contains a big amount of data. It includes the health information of patients. Or what we call Protected Health Information (PHI). These are all sensitive and confidential.
Additionally, healthcare relies on technology and devices. They have computer systems and data. And these can attract hackers.
The most critical problem is the financial data of the patients. It usually involves card numbers, PINs, and account information. What’s worse, hackers can easily modify these data.
The above reasons justify why healthcare information security is very important.
Maintaining Healthcare Information Security
The number of breaches in healthcare outnumbers the incidents in other industries. In 2019 alone, the US reported 44 data breaches.
To help maintain the healthcare IT, here are some strategies:
Control who can access your data
Reports say that more than half of healthcare data breaches involve insiders. So, those who work for you can be the cause of data leak.
One way of maintaining security is to limit those who can access the information. The basic rule is that they should only access what they need to know.
Train your employees to recognize threats
Another effective way to maintain security is to train your employees. All of the policies are useless without proper training.
Besides, as mentioned, most breaches happen because of insiders. Hence, training and education help avoid those kinds of mistakes.
Awareness training helps your employees know about the threats. So, they will also know how to prevent and fight against them.
Thus, it helps them be more careful about handling patient data.
Assess your devices
In every industry, you will find a lot of devices. It may include laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. It means that more devices can access your data. Then, it makes it more vulnerable to breaches.
One way to reduce the chances is to assess your device. You need to check the security capabilities of every device. Whether those owned by your company or by your personnel.
Secure your wireless networks and systems
As we just discussed, more devices can make you more vulnerable. Same with wireless connections, too.
For instance, your data can be vulnerable if you offer free Wi-Fi for patients. Thus, creating security procedures will help you limit access to your information.
Additionally, you need to secure your systems by updating your software. The rule of thumb is that outdated software will not detect new threats.
Conclusion
Like many other industries, information security is important. Having it will help you secure your information. More so, you can prevent breaches and act accordingly.
Healthcare information security will help you provide better service to your patients. Without putting their information at risk.
