{ business solutions } by Missouri Dental Insurance Services


October is Cyber Security Awareness Month: Is Your Practice Protected?


by LINDSEY KUTSCHER


a laptop or your phone (with patient record access) was stolen? Have you considered the liability that falls into your lap if a poten- tial breach of private patient information occurred? We’ve written about this before, but it’s important to keep this real and ever- growing threat at the forefront of risk man- agement. Let’s discuss a few items to protect your practice from cyberattacks.


A CREATE A CYBERSECURITY PLAN


A cybersecurity plan should include an employee training program as well as an incident response plan. One of the best things you can do is make sure employees understand your practice’s security policies and procedures. Don’t consider training to be a one-and-done deal. A strong train- ing program should offer regular courses or other interaction to help keep security at the forefront of your employee’s mind. Make sure your office (as a whole) understands the importance of updating software and is aware of what should be done if a possible security breach is identified. The next part of creating a cybersecurity plan is an incident response plan. This should be developed to provide information such as who to contact, where data and backups are stored and when to contact law enforcement (or your patients) about the breach.


EDUCATE YOURSELF & YOUR STAFF


You don’t have to pay for education. The Small Business Administration offers quick tutorials, articles and additional resources for you, the business owner, at no cost. Visit sba.gov for more information. Because


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s a practice owner, your patient files are imperative to your daily workflow. What would happen if access to those was locked, or


system, program or data. Example, ilovethe- missouridentalassociation. As a dentist, you deal with highly sensitive data and in this case, you may want to require multifactor au- thentication which requires a user to manage at least two identifying factors. For example, a password and a code they can receive in email or on a mobile device.


SECURING YOUR WI-FI


October is National Cyber Security Aware- ness Month (NCSAM), there are free cyber resources generally available during this time. Many organizations offer online NC- SAM toolkits which include resources and tips to help protect your business from cyber threats.


EMAIL SECURITY


Be cautious with email. Do not open suspi- cious attachments or click on links you are unsure about. Verify the sender. If you are unsure of the validity, phone the sender to verify their intention behind the email.


PASSWORDS & PHRASES


Allow your employees to create longer, unique passwords easy for them to re- member. It is typically recommended that passwords be at least eight characters long, have one upper case letter, a number and a symbol. However, pass phrases are also useful. A passphrase is a series of words or other text used to gain access to a computer


Many of us realize that Wi-Fi equipment is not secure when we buy it. Typically, it comes with a default password, but you’ll want to make sure that your network is secure with your own unique password or passphrase. Your network should be hidden from the public. If you’d like patients to have access to complementary Wi-Fi network, you can set up a guest account that uses a differ- ent password and security measures. This will prevent the patient (or an outside user) from gaining access to your main network.


FIREWALLS & ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE


Firewalls operate as a digital shield to help prevent malicious software or other traf- fic from reaching your network. While not full proof, firewalls are a great way to help protect your network. Firewalls also can have virus scanning capabilities. If you do not have a firewall that has this feature, you’ll want to make sure you have antivirus software which will scan your computer and help identify and remove any malware that has gained ac- cess to your network via the firewall.


PROTECTING PAYMENT PROCESSORS


If you use a payment processor, work closely with your vendor or bank to ensure you have installed all software and updates. You may not know the payment Card Industry Secu- rity Standards Council offers a guide to help


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