Healthcare professionals do so much to ensure that our bodies are healthy and we’re happy. Yet the organizations employing these professionals are often plagued with their own malware infections, cybersecurity gaps and ill-intentioned hackers. These kinds of issues can wreak havoc on the organizations themselves and even negatively impact patients.

To remedy these problems, we need more people willing to lead the charge for better cybersecurity in healthcare. This could take the form of a deeply involved board or a well-educated staff. But no matter what solution you adopt it needs to happen as soon as possible.

Below we will examine some of the biggest threats besieging the healthcare industry, and what members of your organization can do to stop cybercriminals.

Advice to Management

You hold a lot of sway as a leader within your organization. When you make a suggestion, people tend to listen. When you make an improvement to your operations, people take notice. If this describes you, then you are the perfect person to lead your organization to a healthy and happy place in regards to digital security.

As cyberattacks increasingly target healthcare providers, it will be up to you to bring these threats to the forefront of your organization’s collective consciousness. And one of the best ways to do this is through training sessions.

This doesn’t need to be anything in-depth, just a short 30-minute meeting once a quarter to review the most common methods of incursion and how to avoid opening up security gaps for hackers to slip through. Be sure to share some of your own experiences combatting online risks as this will make the problem more relatable to your coworkers.

You can even take things to the next level by promoting your defense initiatives through public relations outreach, blogging or thought-leadership articles online. Not only will these measures be adopted within your organization, it will also stand as an example to other providers in your industry.

Advice to Staff‍

As an employee, you might not think it is your job to defend the digital assets of your company. That’s IT’s job after all, right? Wrong. As a matter of fact, the majority of data breaches are caused by employee negligence; meaning that if you aren’t part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

Fortunately, being a leader in cybersecurity doesn’t take as much effort as you might imagine. You don’t need to go back to college to earn a degree in technology or coding; and you certainly don’t need to abandon your current duties to assist IT. All you really need to do is make a few behavioral changes.

For example, you can educate yourself by reading the latest cybersecurity news. If you notice that a number of healthcare organizations are being targeted by malware scammers or phishing emails, you can keep an extra close eye on your inbox for anything fishy. You can encourage your coworkers to do the same, so that when the next slew of phony emails hits your company, you’ll rest easy knowing that you have improved cyber defense awareness within your office.

Other tips include talking to your coworkers about using stronger passwords, avoiding unapproved applications or software, storing sensitive data only in encrypted storage and admitting when you make a mistake to IT.

In conclusion, it doesn’t matter who you are within your healthcare organization. You too can be a force for good. Visit CyberPolicy for more information on keeping up with cybersecurity in healthcare.