Category Archives: Health Care

An ounce of prevention for the healthcare industry

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Security assessments for hospitals, clinics, and practices

0116-securityCyber criminals are increasingly targeting the $3 trillion U.S. healthcare industry. Unfortunately, many hospitals, clinics and practices still rely on aging computer systems that lack the latest security features.

Last year, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center became the poster child for vulnerability when a malware attack resulted in a $17,000 ransom being paid to hackers in order to regain control of their systems.

Phishing scams are also on the rise, putting billing information, social security numbers, birth dates, policy numbers, and diagnosis codes at risk. That data can be used to forge fake IDs to buy medical equipment or prescription drugs that can be resold. Taken a step further, it can be used to file phony claims with insurers.

To make matters worse, medical identity theft isn’t as easily detected as fraudulent credit card transactions, which are often flagged and canceled by banks before a cardholder is even aware of the incident.

We have to assume that cybercrime isn’t going away anytime soon, but Zones can help you with a number of tools that improve the safety, compliancy, and security of your systems. Continue reading →

Fight ransomware. Or pay the price.

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Healthcare organizations increasingly dealing with advanced threats

Print2016 has seen a spike in reported ransomware attacks in the healthcare industry. Because these attacks prevent access to patient record systems, their impact extends beyond simply doing business; they represent a threat to the delivery of care.

In February, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center announced that it had paid a $17,000 ransom to restore files encrypted by a ransomware attack. The good news is that HPMC was able to restore the data and return to normal operations relatively quickly. The bad news is that it could happen again without a comprehensive plan in place.

Just a month later, Methodist Hospital in Kentucky was crippled by a Locky crypto-ransomware attack that sent the hospital into an “Internal State of Emergency.” The Locky malware entered the network through a spam email attachment and spread across the network, infecting multiple systems. While the 4-bitcoin ransom (about $1,600) was modest, the damage done by five days of interrupted hospital operations was not. In the end, Methodist Hospital did not pay the ransom, and was able to recover by activating its backup system.

To fight – or more importantly prevent – such attacks, Cisco offers a range of security solutions including its subscription-based Advanced Malware Protection (AMP) suite that protects your endpoints, your network, and your email and web traffic. Managed through a web-based management console, AMP can be deployed on a variety of platforms to safeguard your data and your systems proactively. Continue reading →

Lenovo is mobilizing healthcare

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ThinkPad: moving toward better patient care

two-looking-at-tabletLenovo is leveraging technology and innovation to offer secure, compatible, reliable, and mobile solutions that improve care from start to finish. And with Lenovo’s ThinkPad product line, a diverse lineup of ultra-portable notebooks, Lenovo is pioneering solutions that help hospitals and doctor’s offices improve patient engagement and outcomes. Lenovo is technology you can trust, and when health providers need the right tool, at the right time, at the right place, ThinkPad solutions offer the kind of mobility that providers need to make the most out of every minute. With better tools at hand, professionals can collaborate easier, achieve interoperability, share data securely, and move from patient to patient to deliver faster and continuous collaborative care. Continue reading →

Combine mobile patient record access with robust information security

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VMware Horizon 6 and AlwaysOn Point of Care Solution

VMware HealthcareHealthcare IT leaders face many challenges as they seek to deliver secure, reliable mobile access to patient information: legacy software systems and infrastructure, mandates for patient data security and a changing healthcare technology environment.

Overcoming these issues is critical, as data access issues that arise at the point of patient care can cause delays or have serious consequences. The virtualization experts at Zones can help you deploy VMware virtualization solutions that enable you to offer patient information access from any device at any time.

VMware virtualization solutions allow you to provide mobile access to patient records without compromising your commitment to information security, because data security shouldn’t mean delayed or limited access to information for healthcare providers. VMware virtualization creates a secure virtual desktop infrastructure that delivers benefits across the organization: Continue reading →