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Protecting Care Homes against Cyber Attacks

Posted by: Jo Love
Category: Blog, Care Home Technology, Care Home WiFi, Tips and advice

Advanced technology brings care homes many new benefits. But with these benefits, there are cybersecurity risks. How protected is your care home? Take a read here to understand the risks and check how secure your IT infrastructure is. Unfortunately, traditional anti-virus is no longer enough to stop the latest threats.

The Risk

In 2005, more than 100 million healthcare records were compromised, from more than 800 devices, in more than 100 countries. The last thing anyone wants is a data risk and the associated negative PR it may bring. As well, as staff, also consider risks posed by residents bringing their own devices & tablets.

Checklist

As a starting point, have a read through to check how you can protect your care home against cyber-attacks.

  • Always use strong and secure passwords.
  • Ensure software is updated as often as possible across all devices.
  • Always keep your anti-virus up to date and ensure it is running on all devices.
  • Connect to secure WiFi – if connecting to public WiFi, be careful not to share sensitive data.
  • Staff Training is crucial. Ensure staff are aware that banks & other organisations will never request password information or ask them to transfer money.
  • Be aware of suspicious downloads. There are malicious apps that trick users into malware.

 

GHM Care understands that IT infrastructure is fundamental to care homes. We can support this by offering EndPoint Protection, Email Protection, Managed Firewall and Managed Antivirus. Our Account Managers will also provide training and awareness. For further information contact us on 01865 367111.

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