Risk Assessment
Is Your Antivirus Good Enough for Your Healthcare Practice?
What is antivirus really?
Webroot (World leader in AV Software) defines Anti-virus software as a program or set of programs that are designed to prevent, search for, detect, and remove software viruses, and other malicious software like worms, trojans, adware, and more.
Why do you need it?
Webroot says these tools are critical for users to have installed and up-to-date because a computer without anti-virus software installed will be infected within minutes of connecting to the internet. The bombardment is constant, with anti-virus companies update their detection tools constantly to deal with the more than 60,000 new pieces of malware created daily.
Why does it have to be special for Healthcare?
Health data is routinely a target for cyber-threats due t it’s sensitivity and high value. The widespread effectiveness of ransomware (today’s biggest virus threat) paralyzing healthcare systems is rampant and dangerous. In most provinces (and states), antivirus is only considered adequate if it is monitored and maintained, and not ‘modifiable by the user’ See this helpful guide https://www.healthit.gov/sites/default/files/basic-security-for-the-small-healthcare-practice-checklists.pdf
Blind Spots:
- Using ‘free Antivirus’ and products designed only to ‘cleanup’ after infection.
- Ignoring Antivirus updates
- Not monitoring Antivirus
- Using Antivirus that allows modification or disabling by the user
- Users thinking that Antivirus is enough to protect the systems
3 Common Solutions to Choose From:
- Get an automated security service to monitor, manage, and maintain your practice systems. (recommended, reliable, affordable)
- Contract an IT Provider to monitor the systems daily (recommended but expensive)
- Check systems yourself daily and implement the updates (not recommended)
Want to check your overall security posture? Try our quiz.
