With the growth of emerging technologies, such as AI, cybercrime is becoming increasingly sophisticated. These tools are helping hackers become even more undetectable when conducting malicious phishing scams - like email spoofing. As a dental professional, it is of utmost importance for you to understand the basics of recognizing and avoiding these pitfalls - the last thing you would want is for today's patients to be affected by yesterday's mistakes.

As a dental professional, you understand the importance of protecting your patients' sensitive, confidential information. But what about your own practice's confidential information? Whether it is patient records or financial data, keeping your practice's information secure is essential to maintaining a successful business.

The holiday and official shopping seasons are in full swing, and if there is a sale, there might be a scam close by. As the prices go down, so does our guard. We fear losing out on a deal and can act without thinking. In this blog we are sharing a few quick reminders to stay cyber-safe this holiday season.

Ransomware attacks are among the most common ways cybercriminals coordinate attacks designed to obtain patient data. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, ransomware attacks more than doubled between 2020 and 2021 – from 158 in 2020 to 321 in 2021 – victimizing over 41 million individuals.

Over 60% of data breaches can be traced to weak credentials. Employees reuse passwords or create ones that are easy to remember. Many employees add a number to their passwords and increment them each time they are forced to make a password change. These practices make it easy for hackers to gain access to a network.

As a small- to medium-sized business (SMB) owner, keeping your dental clinic’s valuable data safe should be a priority. Cybercriminals often target SMBs and healthcare organizations because compared to larger corporations, these entities often lack the technology and manpower to run an efficient cybersecurity system, making them easier to infiltrate.

Cybercriminals have many opportunities to intercept confidential data. But if your data is encrypted, it’s much more difficult for your data to be compromised – should a cybercriminal succeed in getting their hands on it.

As with any other healthcare provider, dental practices must comply with HIPAA and HITECH legislation – requiring that all communications be encrypted.

What do you think when you hear the term “cybersecurity?” Do things like anti-virus, anti-malware, and firewalls come to mind? These are crucial factors in an appropriate, layered security plan. However, every practice needs another aspect of security that costs very little but can make a big difference - a password policy.

Most practice owners and office managers are working to improve their cybersecurity posture to prevent the same attacks and breaches that have made headlines in the past several years. They are updating their firewalls, looking into antivirus and antimalware tools, and performing penetration tests to uncover any weakness in their practice network.

In a digitally evolving world, it’s imperative that you have a cybersecurity plan in place. No matter what the size or specialty of your dental practice is, digital security is a must. Having a regularly scheduled cybersecurity audit and assessment for your practice is important.