Dental practices across the U.S. have become a favorite target for hackers, and ransomware has become the biggest threat. The consequences of any cyberattack, from phishing to denial of service, can be practice-ending, yet many providers don’t know whether their systems meet minimum HIPAA security requirements. Here are the main types of attacks, the five most common vulnerabilities, and how a managed approach to dental IT shores up your security.

So many types of cyberattacks, and growing

01Weak antivirus and anti-ransomware software

Ransomware shuts dental offices down. No patients, no revenue. How long could your practice make payroll in that situation?

If your anti-ransomware software isn’t business grade, it’s time to upgrade, and make sure it runs on all workstations at all times. Effective anti-ransomware detects threats before they become attacks, like a home security system that buys you and your IT resources time to intervene.

“Small and mid-sized businesses like dental practices are often targets of cyberattacks because they are less likely to have full protections in place and devoted information technology personnel to prevent such attacks.” — OSHA Review

02Insufficient data backup

Back up your critical production servers locally and to the cloud. This virtually eliminates the risk of losing critical data and is necessary for HIPAA, which requires maintained, encrypted backups and a disaster recovery plan. When was your data last backed up? If you had to switch to your backup right now, would all your data be there?

If patient data is lost, re-creating it can take weeks or months, slowing your practice to a crawl, and rebuilding patient trust can take much longer, if it’s possible at all. Sufficient backup includes ongoing verification that all data is present and recoverable. The best solutions restore data in as little as 10 minutes with no overall practice downtime.

• Local, frequent, encrypted backup
• Off-site, encrypted backup
• Ongoing verification of backup performance

03Spotty IT support

It’s a myth that all IT providers are the same. Look for a partner who knows dental IT, responds quickly, and fixes problems the first time. Many IT providers work across industries and may serve only a handful of dental practices a year, not enough to build the experience your practice needs. The last thing you want in a crisis is to explain your business and systems to someone who’s never solved your scenario.

“Just having a firewall or anti-virus software does not cut it in the modern age, so dentists also should consider hiring a cybersecurity company to analyze the security of their own network.” — Black Talon Security

04Unsecured firewall

Firewalls help keep external hackers out of your internal network and protect information moving in and out of your system, and HIPAA expects them. But a firewall isn’t set-and-forget. How many years ago was yours installed? When was it last updated? Is anyone monitoring its security on an ongoing basis? If you can’t answer off the top of your head, look into managed firewall services with real-time surveillance and automatic security updates.

“The firewall can be envisioned as your missile defense system. Not only is it actively protecting outside threats and hackers from getting into the network, but it is also scanning each piece of data incoming and outgoing to prevent malicious software from running and wreaking havoc on your system.” — Reuben Kamp, Founder, Darkhorse Tech

05Inconsistent patch management

Authentic security alerts reflect software updates made to neutralize new threats. The problem is most employees can’t tell legitimate alerts from suspicious ones, so they avoid them all. MSPs that specialize in dental IT, like Darkhorse Tech, take the guesswork out with system-wide automation, monitoring cybersecurity continuously and patching holes without your staff having to make tech decisions.

What is a managed service provider?

An MSP remotely manages its clients’ IT infrastructure and end-user systems, typically for a monthly subscription. Practices choose MSPs because it’s less expensive and less risky than managing security on their own.

Who bears your cyber liability?

If you don’t follow federal HIPAA guidelines to protect your patients’ electronic protected health information (ePHI), your practice is liable and can face significant fines. Look for a technology partner with cyber-liability insurance covering both fines and lost revenue in the event of a system failure; very few partners offer that level of accountability.

Cases in point: in the second half of 2019, 400 dental practices fell prey to a single ransomware attack, and 100 more to another. In both cases, the attacks came through technology partners without cyber-liability insurance to cover their clients’ losses.

About Darkhorse Tech

Darkhorse Tech was founded in 2012 by Reuben Kamp when he saw a void in IT service for the dental field. He left his job at a national dental IT company to create a more personalized, one-on-one service model built on integrity, service, protection, and reliability.

Darkhorse Tech has grown mainly through referrals, serving 1,500+ dental practices in all 50 states when this was written, and has earned a reputation for delivering managed cybersecurity for both startup and established practices.