With most dentists operating their own dental practices, they wear a range of different hats. From operations and IT to finance and personnel, dentists are swamped with products and vendors that want to help them focus on patient care and make their dental practices run as safely and efficiently as possible. In this day and age, this means a lot depends on connected devices and cloud applications.

Consequently, in a bid to achieve efficiency, headaches may swiftly begin if cybersecurity isn’t brought to the forefront of practice management when vendors are being chosen and selected for deployment. Cybersecurity for a successful, prosperous dental practice shouldn’t include a trip to a software website for some costly antivirus products.

As a managed IT services provider for dentists, we discuss how dentists can protect themselves from potential breaches:

How can dentists safeguard themselves from the cyberattack epidemic?

Would your bank permit you to acquire an auto loan for a Rolls-Royce yet only entail liability insurance? The answer is a straight no — plus, they’ll usually insist on you having a fenced storage area, a secured garage, a tracking system, and a monitored alarm. Compared to a typical Rolls-Royce, today’s new dental practices are far more valuable. Since practices are now connected more than ever, facilitated by the right vendors, it’s not wrong to say that the dental offices of today are more at risk of being attacked by cybercriminals than a luxury car is of being damaged by a third party.

Therefore, after investing in years of schooling and training, new dentists should consider certain approaches to cybersecurity, most of which weren’t an issue just twenty years ago. This change during the last two decades is rooted in the shift from on-premises to cloud-based solutions.

Ultimately, the cybersecurity stance of a dental practice is just as strong as its weakest vendor. If your vendor isn’t strong, their services will be detrimental to your practice —like a ticking time bomb. If big corporates can be knocked offline through their HVAC software vendor, imagine the damage that an unsecured, weak cloud-based vendor can cause for a single dental practice that is entirely dependent on that vendor for x-rays, patient data, as well as other medical procedures.

To combat such attacks and safeguard your network, you should implement four important pillars of cybersecurity:

Penetration testing

This pillar uses an ethical hacker (a white-hat hacker) who utilizes the same protocols, techniques, and tools that a cybercriminal would use to try and break into your network. In contrast to a vulnerability scanner, a white-hat hacker can solve a problem during testing. For example, an automated tool wouldn’t know how to progress after getting to a locked door or window. However, based on their experience, hackers can run a script and pop the door open.

 White-hat hackers use their experience to exploit networks in a manner a vulnerability scanner simply can’t. Once these hackers complete their testing, they provide you with the findings that can help mitigate risks.

Vulnerability scanning

A network breach or ransomware occurs when a network has vulnerabilities. Some examples of vulnerabilities comprise improperly configured firewalls, unsecured network protocols, open ports on firewalls/computers, weak passwords, outdated equipment, and unpatched operating systems. Cybersecurity providers deploy extremely sophisticated technologies and tools to search for open windows and doors on your network that suspects use to exploit. These tools collect information about your network and run tests against the devices to look for vulnerabilities. Subsequently, this data is turned over to the IT company of the practice for remediation purposes. This company can effectively lock the windows and doors. Cybersecurity agencies invest a lot in best-in-class vulnerability scanning technologies that can detect a range of vulnerabilities on a network. While testing must be performed quarterly, it should also be done whenever adding, modifying, or upgrading a network device.

Cybersecurity awareness training

According to HIPAA, your practice, as well as other covered entities, should undergo cybersecurity awareness training to help reduce the risk of human error and mitigate the probability of being exposed to an attack. Healthcare entities that properly train their staff can see a considerable reduction in cyberattacks.

Arguably, the most vulnerable components of a network are the people using it — staff and the dentist. Hacking the human, or put simply, ‘social engineering’ is one of the main threat vectors affecting practices and is usually the least discussed.

With advancements in security, hackers have started to rely on humans making mistakes. For instance, spear phishing initiates many ransomware attacks — a tactic made to fool a recipient into opening an email that appears to be sent from someone they trust or know. Such an email can be sent to the staff and made to appear as if it was sent by the dentist. Thus, the employees may be asked to click on a link to download/update something or open an attachment. Once they perform the required action, a ransomware attack can occur, running an executable file that should have been reported or left alone.

Typically, the ransomware encrypts the computer and then explores the network for other machines. After finding the server, the ransomware — based on the attack’s lethality and complexity — will encrypt some or all of the files on the server. This makes the files inaccessible unless the user pays the ransom to hackers. This is often done using Monero, Bitcoin, or some other cryptocurrency. However, the files aren’t often returned, and if they’re returned, a time bomb attack may be initiated, affecting the files again after some time. The hacking must be reported to law enforcement authorities.

Cybersecurity audit

During this procedure, an IT company works alongside the dental practice to understand the whole landscape of the practice’s IT footprint. The IT company asks questions like how the data is accessed, what protocols are in place to safeguard it, and how and where it’s stored. Is ePHI transmitted and stored using encryption technologies to safeguard the data? Do dentists leave the office with devices that have ePHI, exposing the practice to a range of risks if the device is lost or stolen? Does the practice contract with a billing agency that logs into the network of the practice? Does the practice have remote team members?

The cost of a breach

The US Department of Health and Human Services has set stringent guidelines in terms of what is required to safeguard patient records. If there’s a data breach, a notification will be sent to the Office of Civil Rights, and an investigation will be conducted. They’ll ask what measures have been taken to improve the practice’s network and see proof that the practice has the relevant HIPAA documents and has offered cybersecurity and HIPAA training.

You have studied for years to become a dentist, building and growing your patient’s trust, your reputation, and of course, your practice. You shouldn’t be passive because the risk of a data breach is real. Before this happens to you, you must take a proactive approach. Practitioners who have undergone data breaches understand that this is probably the worst thing that can happen to a dental practice. The social and financial impact on your practice is devastating. The cost of dealing with a breach may burn a hole in your pocket and may lead to a significant loss of patient trust. However, if a practice puts a hyper-focus on security, trains its staff, and implements sound cybersecurity solutions, almost every attack can be thwarted. This is where Foris IT Management can help.

Foris IT Management offers the finest security service for dental practice

Foris IT Management provides free annual cybersecurity training to practices, educating them on how essential it is to practice specific policies for dental cybersecurity and use the best defense possible to protect their patient’s sensitive information.

With their managed IT services for dentists, Foris IT Management always sheds light on many different ways to back up important data.

Reach out to them directly for more information on their dental IT services!

About the Author

Marcus S. White is a Computer Science graduate who has expertise in cybersecurity. While he currently offers IT-managed services to dental practices, he doesn’t mind sharing his knowledge with his audiences.