Medical Office IT Security Training for Employees Reduces Risk

Summary: This article explains why cyber security training for small medical practice staff is essential for protecting private medical data and staying compliant with HIPAA-protected health information regulations. Regularly scheduled and updated training is imperative to help secure your practice against evolving cyber threats. Training reduces the risk of data breaches and helps avoid the cost and disruption of a cyberattack.

Medical practices have a legal and moral obligation to protect their patient’s private medical data. Unfortunately, healthcare networks are a prime target for cyberattacks. Practice networks store valuable data that can be sold repeatedly or held for ransom by criminals. Hackers are constantly seeking ways to exploit vulnerabilities in healthcare computer networks. Ransomware attacks on hospitals and medical practices have increased in recent years. These attacks are particularly pernicious in that they can compromise patient data and care and disrupt the operation of medical equipment, patient support systems and network-connected smart devices like HVAC, security cameras and equipment controls.

Robust cyber security for HIPAA-protected health information, installed and monitored by IT professionals, is only one of the layers required to protect your practice’s network and data. Cyber security policies must be created, regularly reviewed and updated. However, a policy document is only as good as employee adherence to its mandates. Training for all staff and connected vendors (such as accounting and billing vendors) must be ongoing, and everyone from new hires to practice owners must be on the same page regarding cyber security best practices and policy adherence.

IT Security Training for Employees: Understanding Cyberattack Methods

Your medical practice’s employees are the first layer of defense against cyberattacks and must understand the many ways bad actors can invade your network. Some of the most common attack methods are:

• Business Email Compromise (BEC) – For these attacks, cyber thieves design fake emails to trick the recipient into revealing private information such as email login credentials or proprietary data. Currently, the most common attack method hackers use is phishing attacks, which lure targets into making impulsive mistakes. Users must carefully check the legitimacy of emails before replying or clicking on possible malicious links or attachments. Hackers have become very skilled at mimicking the look and tone of trusted senders. They can fool busy, rushed users who don’t take the time to examine and verify the sender's identity carefully. Cyber security for medical practices requires awareness training for the security red flag details of every email. The cyber security experts who train your staff should offer a phishing awareness course to teach employees how to identify likely phishing attacks. A phishing awareness course will emphasize that users must think before they click.
• Email Spoofing — Cybercriminals use email spoofing to compromise emails. This technique involves forging a trusted source's email address to make it seem the message is from that sender. For example, an email from “casey@qmail.com” differs from “casey@gmail.com.” A user might not notice the difference between the first, which uses a “q” instead of a “g” in spelling gmail.
• QR Code Phishing – By embedding QR codes in emails, hackers dupe users into scanning them. Once scanned, they can lead users to malicious websites and the downloading and installation of malware.
• Fake Caller IDs – Hackers can edit and manipulate caller IDs to make them seem like they are from a trusted source (bank, payroll, insurance company and more). This attack is called caller ID spoofing. Once fooled, the employee receiving the call might be tricked into sharing private medical or financial information over the phone.

Development of Cyber Security Training for Staff

IT security training for employees is not an out-of-the-box process. Every medical organization is different, with unique computer systems, procedures and staffing. However, they all face common cyber threats. With the help of cyber security specialists, a customized training plan can address everyday tasks and include the following:

• Basic Knowledge of How Data Breaches Occur – If users do not understand what actions increase the risk of cyberattack, they cannot effectively do their part to protect medical practice data. Employees that understand how breaches occur are better equipped to avoid them. Patient healthcare data security and employee data (Driver’s License and Social Security numbers, tax and payroll deposit information and more) are at risk along with the practice’s financial security. Training helps protect owners, patients and employees.
• The Most Common Cyber Threats – Awareness training should include understanding and avoiding the latest and most common attack methods: phishing, ransomware, DDoS attacks, spyware, worms and Trojans. Medical staff must learn what these are and how the attacks are typically executed.
• Up-To-Date Best Practices for Preventing Cyberattacks – A comprehensive document that outlines the current best practices required by staff to protect the practice from attacks should contain:
• Technical Safety Measures – Technical measures include protocols such as strong password creation and storage, multi-factor authentication and data encryption.
• Use of Secure Communication Channels – Your staff needs to know your organization's secure and approved communication channels (conferencing, telephony, personal or bring-your-own devices).
• Avoiding Public WiFi When Sharing Sensitive Data – Sensitive information should never be received or shared on unsecured public WiFi. Virtual private networks (VPNs) must always be used when accessing the network remotely.
• Warning Signs of a Possible Cyberattack – Recognizing the signs of a possible data breach is essential to halting an attack. The longer an attack goes undetected, the more data is compromised and the more expensive it is to mitigate. Cyber security experts can train your staff to recognize warning signs such as network speed and function changes or threatening messages. Staff should also be trained to report errors or suspicions without fear of reprisal.
• Understanding the Severe Consequences of a Breach – Stakeholders must be taught what is at risk. Your employees must know that a medical data breach can affect patients' health, the practice's operation and even their jobs. Data privacy violations may result in fines, consumer and employee lawsuits, patients leaving the practice, and practice bankruptcy.
• Detailed Cyber Security Policies – The written policies should be as detailed as possible. Adherence to cyber security policies and best practices should be a condition of employment.

IT Security Training for Medical Practice Employees: Key Takeaways

IT security training for medical practice employees is vital to protecting private medical, financial, and employee data. Enlisting the training and network services of a professional cyber security IT company will help ensure that your staff understands how important data security is for your business, patients, and fellow employees.