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BENEFITS Email Spear Phishing: A New Level of Scary by ROBERT McDERMOTT T


his April, the ADA fell victim to a cybersecurity incident that caused a disruption to certain systems. Upon


discovery, the ADA immediately responded by taking affected systems offline and com- mencing an investigation into the nature and scope of the disruption. Now, at the time of this writing—almost a month later—systems finally are being restored. Due to this event— and with the FBI and ADA recently warn- ing about cybercriminals exploiting events like the crisis in Ukraine to steal personal information and money—it’s a good time to discuss one of the most successful ways to target and succeed: through your email.


More frequently than any of us would like, we hear of these cybercrimes and wonder about the safety of our information. How- ever, with email being so widely used and shared, cybercriminals find many ways to get your email and use it to target you. Let’s look at a couple primary ways you can be targeted.


You’ve probably heard of phishing, where cybercriminals use email as their gateway to your personal information. Spear phishing takes email targeting to an entirely new level of scary—your attacker gets to know you. Cy- ber attackers collect information relevant to you from across the internet so it seems like an email you should expect. Sometimes you may be asked to click a link or attachment, or to respond. If you do, you’ve opened the door for malware to get into your practice management system, accounting and other important applications.


LEARN TO SPOT THE TRICK


Be cautious when you receive an email from the bank, your IT department or a vendor, for example, stating that you need to reset your password or go to a website to update information. Reach out to the sender sepa- rately to verify the request really came from them.


24 focus | MAY/JUN 2022 | ISSUE 3 DON’T CLICK THE LINK


A quick way to see if the link is suspicious is to just hover your cursor over it. The URL should point to the site to which the email claims it will be going. If it doesn’t, or you have any doubts, alert your IT team.


LIMIT CYBERCRIME ACCESS POINTS


Protected Health Information should not travel in or out of your general email inbox (Gmail, Yahoo!, etc.). The safest HIPAA- compliant email:


• Meets all five required HIPAA Safeguards


• Transmits across a private encrypted network


• Requires you to initiate first email


communication to those outside your network


• Encrypts email in transit and ‘at rest’ in your inbox


Recovering from an attack is much more difficult and costly than preventing it in the first place. Provide ongoing staff education. Assess the security of your HIPAA-compliant email. And implement a plan to send the bulk of your emails through a truly secure HIPAA-compliant email.


Robert McDermott is President/CEO of iCoreConnect, an MDA Perks Partner, specializing in comprehensive software that speeds up workflow for dentists. iCoreExchange is an encrypted, fully HIPAA-compliant email. MDA members receive a discount on iCoreExchange. Book a demo at iCoreConnect.com/MO1 or call 888-810-7706.


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