From personal data and health records to bank account information, Healthcare services Collects huge amounts of highly sensitive information about their customers. As a result, they have become an attractive target for cybercriminals but they also suffer from employees who fail to handle sensitive data with care.
To ensure compliance and avoid penalties and other costs associated with data breaches such as loss of lost business and reputation, healthcare services need to be expanded Data security Strategies that protect sensitive information from external and internal threats. Let’s take a closer look at how they can achieve this.
1. Dealing with internal threats
The healthcare sector struggles with a particularly high level of negligence among its employees. Its 27 percent of violations are due to human error, one of the highest percentages in all industries. Employees are the root cause of a further 27 percent of malicious incidents because they are victims of phishing and social engineering attacks or attempts to steal data.
This is problematic because, by law, most health data is not allowed to leave the organization’s premises without being encrypted or transmitted through secure, authorized channels. Turn to healthcare services Data loss prevention (DLP) solutions to control the flow of sensitive health data in and out of their network.
Designed to directly protect sensitive data, DLP tools use predefined profiles and customized definitions to track and control sensitive data. With powerful content inspection and contextual scanning tools, DLP solutions By blocking their transfer through unauthorized channels, they can identify health data in the main body of files and emails before they are sent.
2. Restrict access to data
Another way health data can become sensitive and exposed to theft is when it is stored locally on work computers. Employees often access, save and download sensitive data as they perform their tasks and may forget to delete these files when they do not need them. This poses a significant risk to data security and the need to limit data access based on the need to know.
DLP Solutions can scan for sensitive data stored locally on the entire company network, and when it is found in unauthorized locations, the admin can take remedial measures such as deletion or encryption. Healthcare services can thus ensure that no employee has continued access to sensitive data and is not required to perform their duties.
3. Control removable devices
Although the Internet is gaining traction as a preferred data transfer method, many employees still use removable devices such as USB or external hard drives to copy large amounts of data or large files. But, these devices can be easily lost or stolen due to their size. Worst still, in recent years, USB has become a popular tool, especially for malware attacks.
Healthcare services seeking to address these risks may use DLP solutions to monitor and control the use of peripheral and USB ports as well as Bluetooth connections. They may choose to block their use altogether or limit it to valid devices. This way, healthcare services can track which employee is using which device at what time, making it easier to detect suspicious activity on the network and potential data theft.
Healthcare organizations can also take an extra step and use an encryption solution for VouchSafe data security. This way, they can ensure that any data copied over USB is automatically encrypted, and that access to it is restricted to people with decryption keys.
By Philip Kotfas, Channel Manager, CoSoSys
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