5 Ways to Reduce IT Security Risks in Hospitals

Healthcare organizations aren’t protected from attacks on their IT infrastructure.

With the proliferation of mobile devices, embeddable devices, along with rise of social media, virtual software, and consumerization of IT—security risks have risen as well and in turn, increased the demand for IT security services and defense platforms.

You might be wondering how you could address these risks. We’ve lined up five methods to assist you in somehow reducing these threats.

1. Filter mobile devices connected to the healthcare network.

Doctors, nurses, and all kinds of medical professionals use mobile phones for their day-to-day obligations and often, they connect to the Internet via the hospital’s own network. If you’re not careful, one connected device infected by a virus is already enough for a hacker to breach your network.

Minimize these threats by implementing network access control (NAC) solutions, which monitor connected devices, provide access according to the user’s role within the network, and scan it for looming IT threats.

2. Implement IT security platforms dedicated to monitoring embedded devices.

Bear in mind that threats can come in not just through smartphones  and mobile devices. Today, medical equipment such as scanners, patient-monitoring systems, and imaging devices can be gateways too, as these modern-day devices come with embeddable connectivity having the capability to connect to the healthcare network on their own.

This then leaves them open to unique threats as well that needs to be addressed with security processes specific to these modules.

3. Monitor virtualized desktops.

Virtualization has made it possible to run multiple “virtual” desktop environments, running multiple applications on limited hardware, which is actually a cost-effective way to maximize the functionality of computer hardware and servers.

However, these virtual desktops and applications are open to risks just as much as physical desktops are. Some threats may be similar while others are unique. Whatever the case is, the key is to ensure that your network security tools can monitor virtual desktops as comprehensively as they can with physical personal computers.

4. Protect the network from malware coming from all sources.

Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram come in tandem with mobile devices, which healthcare professionals access as well. Unfortunately, they can be a gateway for a hacker to get through. Same as with emails.

The solution to this lies in your network security system’s ability to identify  threats right away, and snuff out infected devices before they can cause damage to the rest of the network.

5. Adapt to rapidly evolving consumer IT devices.

Healthcare professionals, similar to many other individuals like to be on the forefront too with the latest IT gadgets and computers. These devices evolve just as fast as a healthcare organization’s employees adopt them.

Once again, new devices featuring a different OS or functioning in its own unique way can carry different sets of threats. To respond to this, the institution needs to implement NAC solutions that can be easily upgraded for monitoring new devices.

By simply taking into account these five simple steps, you can save your healthcare organization’s network from crippling IT attacks.