Data breaches pose grave threats to dental practices because they manage sensitive information relating to patients and their medical histories. If cybercriminals get a hold of this data, they can use it to commit fraud like forging credentials and making unauthorized transactions.
There’s no denying that having a solid IT solution in place can dramatically increase your dental practice’s efficiency, especially when it comes to your administrative and operational functions. However, incorporating IT into your practice means you’ll have to properly manage and maintain it.
Despite an ever-changing digital world, email has held strong as a popular form of communication for the dental community. Email targeting has allowed cybercriminals to excel at their craft and develop new and creative ways to scam you out of personal and potentially sensitive information.
Cloud computing services are a popular option among dental practices. It enables practices to delegate management of IT functions to a dedicated team, and saves the practice from having to invest in the hardware and storage capabilities required, especially as it grows in size.
"Know thine enemy" — it means to get to know them and their motives. In this blog, we take a close look at the five types of dangerous hackers, what their motives are, and how they operate.
Script kiddies
In terms of skill, script kiddies (or skids, for short) are at the bottom of the hacker totem pole.
Advances in technology have streamlined many processes for dental clinics, from appointment bookings to payments. The ease and convenience granted by online platforms, however, comes at a cost — and it comes in the form of risk that one must be aware of and mitigate accordingly.
Most dental clinics today rely on information technology systems for their operations, which is why it’s vital to have a solid IT infrastructure. When IT systems go down, dental offices without a backup and disaster recovery strategy are left scrambling to get their network up and running while dealing with costly damages.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems allow users to make calls through a broadband internet connection instead of a traditional phone system. This means reduced call costs for businesses that already have an internet connection. VoIP phones also come with various features not found in conventional phones, such as multi-party calling capabilities, auto-attendant, and video conferencing to name a few.
Dental clinics store and handle a huge amount of sensitive patient data called protected health information (PHI). PHI is any information that identifies a specific patient, which includes:
Date of birth
Residential address
Email address
Phone number
Medical history
Insurance information
Laboratory tests and results
Mental health condition
Cybercriminals and malicious insiders looking to make easy money steal PHI to sell it on the dark web, extort money from their victims, and commit fraud.
The worldwide VoIP market has seen incredible growth over the past years. With new technological innovations, business adoption, and government support, the VoIP industry is not showing any signs of slowing down. In fact, it is predicted that the global VoIP market will grow to $31 billion by 2027.
As more dental clinics move from a traditional landline network to VoIP systems, it's vital to keep track of the latest VoIP trends to make sure your clinic is utilizing the full potential of VoIP. Here are some VoIP trends you should keep an eye on this year.
