In 2021, more than 550 organizations reported healthcare data breaches to HHS, impacting over 40 million individuals. The reality is that cybersecurity breaches can occur despite data loss prevention efforts. What your organization does after a breach can make all the difference in limiting the impact of an attack. When...
Tag: data loss prevention
How a Continuous SOC Can Help Healthcare Facilities Avoid Data Loss
As healthcare organizations focus on patient care and essential daily functions, cybersecurity may not be prioritized appropriately. However, a strong cybersecurity program is vital to maintaining patient care and day-to-day operations. Failing to implement effective security measures could put your organization at risk.. Many healthcare organizations are turning to cybersecurity...
Data Breach Lawsuits on the Rise: Is Your Healthcare Organization Prepared?
Cyber attacks in the healthcare industry threaten patient care and privacy. While PHI and PII exposure is often immediate, there is also a long-term cost of cyber attacks. Healthcare organizations often face lawsuits following breaches. And these incidents are on the rise. Lawsuits are financially costly, but they can also...
How to Conduct an Inventory of Your Medical Devices to Plan for Confident Cybersecurity
Connected medical devices have become an integral part of the patient experience here in the United States. Recent statistics demonstrate that a single hospital room may have, on average, 15-20 medical devices in it, many of them connecting directly into the healthcare facility's IT infrastructure. Beyond the number in each...
HIPAA and Cybersecurity Applied to Medical Devices
Medical devices are increasingly being connected to hospital networks, the internet, patient home networks, and to other medical devices. This broad sharing of information allows physicians to respond to patient needs more quickly and tailor treatment plans based on outputs from medical devices in use. However, these capabilities also increase...
Healthcare Cybersecurity Tips for Apps and Mobile Devices
Every healthcare organization, regardless of the devices used, faces the risk of cybersecurity attacks. However, the use of mobile devices and apps can bring the risk of a cyber-attack to another level. Apps and mobile devices are highly effective, affordable, and convenient ways for medical facilities to manage a diverse...
Benefits of a Web Application Firewall for Your Healthcare Organization
Application attacks are on the rise in healthcare organizations across the country. The high demand from both patients and staff to have easy access to records and scheduling has resulted in a growing number of web applications being offered to users. However, as with any technology surge, the increase in...
Medical Device Security: How to Assess Your Organization’s Readiness in 2019
Medical devices have experienced a significant growth surge over the last several years. Recent statistics indicate that a single hospital room may hold as many as 15-20 devices at any given moment, proving their value as an integral part of the patient care experience. The latest generation of medical devices,...
Cybersecurity Alert: 3 Medical Devices that Might Put You at Risk in 2019
Medical devices are some of the most vital tools for healthcare organizations of every size and scope, impacting the performance (and public perception) of a facility. Practices throughout the country utilize an increasingly wide range of medical equipment to improve care levels as well as stand out as a market...
Health IT: Can You Stay Connected and Avoid Security Risks?
Every year, various advancements in technology make their way into the healthcare industry. From the Internet of Things [IoT] to telemedicine, all of these innovations are changing the way medical institutions deliver care across the world. While many significant benefits come from these modern healthcare innovations, staying connected at all...
Is Your Healthcare Organization in Danger of a Cybersecurity Breach?
Network security and cyber attacks continue to plague healthcare organizations of every size and scope across the US. A recently report,released by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), showed that over 15 million patient records were compromised in 2018 – a number that's only expected to grow with the surge...
Can You Find and Secure the Sensitive Information in Your Organization’s Network Infrastructure?
All healthcare organizations capture and store sensitive data sets within their IT networks that require extensive protection from unauthorized access or a cyber attack. Unfortunately, many organizations struggle with identifying and safeguarding this information simply because they don't know what qualifies as sensitive data and where such data is located...
Medical Device Security: A New Front In The Cybersecurity War
Medical devices play a vital role in every health organization’s overall performance as well as the quality of care they can provide to patients. Today's state-of-the-art devices deliver a wide range of benefits, including the opportunity for continuous monitoring, telemedicine, and data analytics. Despite the many advantages offered through these...
Who (And What) Should Have Access to Your Network?
Preventing a data breach or network security lapse is a top priority for healthcare organizations worldwide. The very nature of the devices and data transmitted across every internal system, coupled with a typically (and often, alarmingly) low number of cybersecurity resources makes healthcare environments exceptionally vulnerable to a cyber attack....
A Security Checklist for Healthcare Organizations
Cyber attacks and data breaches are on the rise in virtually every industry that utilizes and stores sensitive information to power its operations. However, the healthcare vertical is often particularly vulnerable to a network security lapse, often finding their data loss prevention efforts powerless against the increasingly sophisticated and complex...
6 Considerations for HIPAA Compliant Penetration Testing
Strategic and results-driven penetration testing (also known as pen testing) helps healthcare enterprises maintain the highest levels of network security across their entire organization. Often referred to as "ethical hacking," a penetration test examines an organization’s digital enterprise vulnerabilities and assesses those vulnerabilities through the same methods that a real-world...
Fortified Health Security: Is Your Network Vulnerable To Intrusion?
Healthcare organizations across the country suffer from a myriad of network security issues that put their (and their patients') data at risk. Unfortunately, many healthcare administrators don't realize the scope of their cybersecurity vulnerabilities or just how at risk their organization is for a potential data breach – until it's...
5 Things Healthcare Companies Miss When Getting Ready for an Audit
Audit. The mere mention of the word can instantly stir mild to moderate panic throughout even the most diligent healthcare IT department. For a myriad of reasons, most healthcare organizations dread the idea of conducting industry mandated cybersecurity risk assessments. Compliance evaluations are time-consuming, disrupting normal corporate activities and potentially...
Fortified Health Security: What Does It Mean to Be HITRUST-Certified
Healthcare providers across every specialty rely on high-performing technology to both treat and support their patients. Whether it's integrating a cloud-based CRM to automate back office functioning such as appointment scheduling or billing, or incorporating the latest, state-of-the-art connected medical devices into a treatment protocol, innovation is at the very...
How To Triage Your Healthcare IT Security Needs And Stay On Budget
In the healthcare industry, the word "triage" typically refers to a medical process that determines the order in which admitted patients receive treatment. In larger hospitals, triage protocol becomes particularly vital, as hundreds (and potentially even thousands) of patients pursue treatment and care daily. As patients are triaged, medical professionals...
Is Your Healthcare Organization HIPAA Compliant? Check Out Our Guide
For healthcare IT teams across the country, maintaining network security throughout an organization isn't just about keeping data safe – it's also about keeping their operations compliant. The medical industry's rapidly increasing reliance on cloud-based technology and connected medical devices to transmit critical patient data have made cybersecurity issues and...
Healthcare IT: How Often Are You Checking Your Network for Security Risks?
It's official. Healthcare data breaches and cyber attacks have already reared their ugly digital heads in 2019. A recently released HIPAA Journal report demonstrated that, despite a respectable dip in cyber attacks throughout December 2018, January data breach events at healthcare facilities across the country rose to above typical levels....
Human Capital Management: 3 Tips To Insulate Your Organization from the Turnover Epidemic
With IT talent shortages reaching record heights, the healthcare industry is under mounting pressure to not only hire high performing technology employees to manage its mission-critical network security and data loss prevention efforts, but also to retain these staff members once they've joined the team. Unfortunately, successfully retaining high-performing employees...
Fortified Health Security: What You’ll Discover in the 2019 Horizon Report on Connected Medical Devices and Risks
As a leader in healthcare cybersecurity, data loss prevention, and managed services, Fortified Health Security is dedicated to supporting our partners across multiple levels of service. In addition to our hands-on, customized cybersecurity solutions, we also develop and distribute a wide range of industry-relevant resources and materials to help support...
Fortified Health Security: How We Help Clients Leverage Rather than Tolerate Technology
As a leading Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP), Fortified Health Security develops and implements full-scale security information and event management (SIEM) and network security solutions that protect both facility and patient intelligence. However, at Fortified Health Security, maintaining the highest levels of cybersecurity framework standards and best practices isn't enough....
Fortified Health Security: How We Onboard Clients for Lasting IT Security Success
At Fortified Health Security, we understand that the first 90 days of engagement with a new client plays a pivotal role in the overall success of our partnership. Make no mistake: as cybersecurity specialists, we prioritize every project phase. We make it our mission to boost data loss prevention and...
Healthcare IT: Can You Accurately Assess Your Healthcare Tech Needs In-House?
The technology needs of any healthcare organization are constantly changing, forcing administrators to continuously reevaluate whether current systems fully support both patient and process needs. There are a myriad of reasons for this. For some healthcare organizations, it's simply a matter of updating obsolete programs to a more advanced and...
Partnering With An IT Security Firm To Solve The #1 HR Problem: Turnover
As the IT Security candidate shortage in the medical industry continues to grow, healthcare administrators find themselves faced with a second staffing crisis: turnover. As companies in every vertical compete for the same dwindling talent pool, the healthcare segment has had to navigate an upswing in turnover amongst their cybersecurity...
Our Take -The Top 5 Takeaways from HIMSS19
At Fortified Health Security, we know the best way to help our healthcare clients prevent a cyber attack is to stay on top of the latest industry trends and threats in network security and data loss prevention. The annual HIMSS Global Conference & Exhibition helps us do just that. As...
Healthcare IT: How Interoperability Makes Penetration Testing Even More Important
Healthcare organizations within every medical specialty continue to expand, making interoperability a top priority for physicians, providers, and patients. As healthcare facilities' IT systems and digital infrastructures grow, interoperability enables seamless care and coverage, both on an individual and community level. As a result, providers, administrators, and stakeholders find themselves...
How Are IT Risks Different For A Company That Handles Protected Health Information?
As cybersecurity threats and attacks continue to evolve, hackers are consistently turning their attention to the United States healthcare industry. A 2017 report released by the Identity Theft Resource Center showed that, of the total number of data breaches tracked for the year by the organization, the Medical/Healthcare industry came...
HSCC Releases New Framework For Medical Device Security
At Fortified Health Security, we've seen firsthand how the many cybersecurity threats plaguing United States medical devices can impact healthcare facilities and organizations on a national scale. Yes, speed-of-light technology advances have transformed healthcare practices, treatments, and service delivery, exponentially increasing the quality of patient care across virtually every medical...
HIMSS19: What to Expect When Your Team Meets with Fortified Health Security. See us at Booths 2889 and 400-67
As a leading healthcare cybersecurity resource, Fortified Health Security makes staying on top of the latest industry trends and innovations a top priority. For us, attending relevant healthcare events and symposiums is about more than just finding new ways to network with both marketplace leaders and healthcare executives (although we...
Healthcare IT: Facing the Staffing Crisis through an Alternative Approach
IT security within the healthcare industry is currently facing a major staffing crisis. This cybersecurity talent shortage has delivered significant blows throughout virtually every vertical, but the healthcare sector has been hit especially hard. A 2017 report released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services noted that the...
Why Working with an MSSP Is Smarter Than Building Your Own Cybersecurity Team
The landscape of cybersecurity is in constant flux. Hackers are continuously developing newer, smarter, and more sophisticated ways to infiltrate network security at companies on a global scale. For healthcare facilities, the increased threat of a cyber attack means ramping up security measures across the entire organization to protect the...