No matter how large or small a medical practice is; all medical practice owners and medical practitioners should be aware of and consciously apply cyber security measures at every level.
However, one of the biggest hurdles that smaller practices experience is the lack of resources such as dedicated IT personnel. At Tego, we understand this. There are simple yet powerful IT procedures that can help you protect your practice from cyber security threats. Here are a few:
Access Control
Access control is a way to limit access to a computing system. It allows business owners to:
- Decide who they would like to give access privileges to.
- Determine which roles require what access.
- Enforce staff access control limits.
To minimise the risk of an unauthorised access to important information, A superior access control system helps you protect your business by allowing you to limit staff and suppliers to your computer’s:
- Networks
- Files
- Applications
- Sensitive data
Pass-phrases
This procedure entails using a phrase or sentence, rather than one word, for your passwords. A passphrase can be used just like a password. It can be used to verify access to a computer system, program or service. Passphrases are most effective when they are:
- Used with multi-factor authentication.
- Unique – not a famous phrase or lyric, and not re-used.
- Longer – phrases are generally longer than words.
- Complex – naturally occurring in a sentence with uppercase, symbols and punctuation.
- Easy to remember – saves you being locked out.
Passphrases provide greater security as they are harder to crack against compared to a singular password.
Employee Training
Your staff can be the first and last line of defence against cyber threats. As a medical practice owner or medical practitioner, you have a legal responsibility to keep your patient information safe. That’s why a cyber security training program is important.
Regular cyber security training keeps your staff educated and protects your business against cyber threats. In addition, having a cyber security incident response plan can help to change the habits and behaviours of staff and create a sense of shared accountability in keeping your practice safe.
Your cyber security incident response plan teaches staff how to:
- Recognise
- Avoid
- Report
- Remove
- Recover
Tego – Protecting You against Cybercriminals
As medical indemnity insurance providers in Australia, we will cover your practice with medical indemnity insurance, medical malpractice insurance, doctors indemnity insurance, medical practice insurance, gp medical indemnity insurance, and more. If you are a medical practitioner with Tego, your medical indemnity insurance comes with 24/7 medico-legal advice and support to guide you through the best ways to protect not only your practice but your staff and patients.
Cyber threats are not going away and being proactive with your IT systems is the only way to ensure the protection of your data and system.
This publication is general in nature and is not comprehensive or constitutes legal or medical advice. You should seek legal, medical or other professional advice before relying on any content, and practice proper clinical decision making with regard to individual circumstances. Persons implementing any recommendations contained in this publication must exercise their own independent skill or judgment or seek appropriate professional advice relevant to their own particular practice. Compliance with any recommendations will not in any way guarantee discharge of the duty of care owed to patients and others coming into contact with the health professional or practice. Tego Insurance Pty Ltd is not responsible to you or anyone else for any loss suffered in connection with the use of this information.