2019 showed that businesses of all sizes are not immune to cyberattacks. Hackers have developed new malware and techniques to infiltrate and steal corporate data hosted on traditional IT infrastructure, the cloud, mobile devices, and email platforms.

You’re probably thinking, “Who would want to steal data from a dental office?”

Hackers, that’s who. In July 2018, reports revealed that data from over 150,000 National Health Service (NHS) patients was shared over a period of three years. During the same year, a targeted cyberattack on the Singapore government’s health database compromised personal data from 1.5 million patients.

Cybercriminals have many opportunities to intercept confidential data either at rest or in transit. However, if your data is encrypted, they won’t be able to make any sense of it even if they succeed in getting their hands on it.

Like any other healthcare provider, dental practices must comply with HIPAA and HITECH legislation, which requires all communications to be encrypted.