Cyber Scams: Is Your Practice at Risk?
10 Jul 2018
We tend to believe we would never fall for a suspicious email asking us to submit passwords or click on fake links.
However, it’s important to be aware that cyber risk is a serious issue for Australian medical practices, particularly given the use of electronic health records. Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and fraudulent activity can be harder to spot.
Case study
The following case study is based on actual medico-legal matters (details have been anonymised to protect the privacy of the parties involved):
One morning, a specialist’s practice software would not open. Staff called the IT support team, who found that all network files had been encrypted and locked by a virus. An attempt to restore data from the backup server failed because that had also been locked. A ransom notice appeared, demanding payment in exchange for a decryption code. The specialist chose to pay the ransom, and the IT team recovered most of the data. A number of measures were taken to strengthen security and prevent a similar attack.
Breaches of patient privacy
Note that if patients’ or other individuals’ privacy is breached, there are now legal requirements to notify patients and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
Only data breaches involving likely risk of serious harm to the individual or individuals whose data is affected need to be reported. If your timely management of the data breach means serious harm is no longer likely, the notification obligations under the legislation may not take effect.
Taking measures to secure your data
The good news is there are a number of steps you can actively take to secure your data. MDA National aims to make preparing yourself, your practice staff, and your practice easier with our new Cyber Risk Program. The program incorporates:
- Cyber Risk Education for MDA National Members and Practice Indemnity Policyholders which includes
- online access to case studies, articles and blogs by global cyber experts
- quarterly cyber risk email updates to support you in mitigating cyber risk
- cybersecurity education activities.
For more information on cyber security, see MDA National’s Cyber Resources page.
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