Keep your devices protected and your patients secure with these 3 beginner tips

An article written by Infosecurity Magazine asserts that one in five mobile devices used by medical professionals are highly susceptible to a malware attack, and this figure continues to rise over time.  The article then goes on to explain why this statistic should be so concerning to the general public –

“When you consider that 80% of doctors use mobile devices in their work with 28% storing patient data on them, this is a worrying privacy issue.”

In fact, the possibility of a healthcare breach – mobile or not – is a huge area of concern for patients everywhere, especially when many experts consider 2015 to be “the year of the healthcare breach.”  As a result of these cyber healthcare blunders, more and more people are opting to withhold important information from their medical provider.

But technology isn’t going away anytime soon, and the reliance on sophisticated apps, software, and gadgets to process critical healthcare data will only grow over time.  So what choice do you have?

Simple.  To protect your mobile devices as much as you possibly can.  Here are a few beginner tips to help you do just that.

Lock your mobile devices.

Many healthcare breaches – and data loss in general – can be accredited to a lost or stolen mobile device.  If these devices aren’t password-protected, the outcome is far worse for all parties involved.  Without a password, the contents of your device are left wide-open for any thief or curious bystander to swoop up.  It’s important to keep your devices protected with a password or pin code that is considerably more advanced than “1234” or “password.”  It might take decades to build up your data, but it only takes a few seconds to steal it.

Keep your devices up-to-date at all times.

Part of the article written by Infosecurity Magazine directly questions the reliability of the apps medical professionals use to complete daily work tasks.  These apps are often outdated and insecure, resulting in large security gaps.  To avoid this, check for updates regularly and always accept new patches.  This may require some work on your end – but a little work now beats all the work it will take to clean up a data breach.

Never let anyone use your devices.

Social engineering is quickly creating a huge security issue for IT Providers everywhere.  With social engineering, hackers attempt to sidestep all those super advanced security solutions, and instead, focus their attention on the human element.  With the right string of words and the proper incentive, hackers are able to manipulate business professionals into dropping standard security protocols.  As a result, these professionals deliver classified data right into the hands of cyber-thieves, and something like this can easily be accomplished with a quick, “Can I use your phone for a few minutes?”  In a few minutes, any person with the right set of skills can extract data, login credentials, and financial information.  Never let anyone use your connected devices.