In 2022, 36% of all data breaches involved phishing.
Phishing in healthcare has become an increasingly popular tactic for cybercriminals looking to breach databases and collect sensitive health records to sell or hold ransom.
What exactly is phishing, why is it so dangerous, and how can HIPAA training for medical office staff help prevent potential phishing attacks?
Read on for an overview of phishing and learn the best practices for keeping your entity compliant and avoiding falling for phishing and ransomware attacks.
What is Phishing and Why Is it So Dangerous?
Phishing is a technique used by cybercriminals to gain access to protected health information (PHI) or to deliver ransomware by impersonating someone else. Both phishing techniques are dangerous and can have a long-lasting negative impact on providers and patients:
- Stealing PHI: Hacking into a healthcare provider’s network allows criminals to steal patients’ data, such as Social Security numbers, birth dates, and addresses. This is valuable information on the black market, as it can be used to commit insurance fraud, create false identities, and more.
- Delivering ransomware: By convincing someone to click a realistic-looking link or fill out a form, ransomware can be installed on any device. This causes important health documents on a device to become encrypted, and the only way to unlock the encrypted files is by paying a hefty ransom.
In addition to jeopardizing an individual’s private records, phishing can also negatively affect the reputation and bottom line of healthcare providers. Organizations reportedly have trouble retaining customers after a phishing breach, can experience significant financial loss when trying to remediate a breach, and often have to go offline and disrupt clinical care in order to deal with cyberattacks.
What do Healthcare Phishing Scams Look Like?
Phishing scams are often launched through email, web, or even social media. These scams are often difficult to detect because they mimic official correspondence and include recognizable trust signals.
Phishing emails often appear to be from a legitimate source, such as a government agency, IT staff member, or healthcare institution. In fact, some phishing emails look like they’re from friends or family members who want to share information with the recipient.
They often use official logos, emblems, or other branding materials from reputable sources (such as the healthcare staff of a trusted organization); they may include contact information (such as an email address) that looks similar but isn’t real; or they may ask you for confidential information through an electronic form using a web address that looks legitimate enough to fool even experienced users.
How Can Phishing Be Prevented?
The best way to protect against phishing scams is by educating employees about the importance of security policies and procedures.
Medical office staff is specifically targeted by phishing attacks because of their access to sensitive patient data. In fact, 88% of healthcare workers open phishing emails. Therefore, employees should be trained to recognize phishing scams and other social engineering attacks.
Periodic online HIPAA training for medical office staff is one effective way of spotting and preventing phishing attacks. Training should cover a variety of topics, including:
- How to recognize various phishing and ransomware scams
- How to apply security parameters to all devices, including desktop and mobile
- How to implement security features such as web filters, which help users avoid unsafe links on websites
- How to quickly report and mitigate phishing attempts
Preventing Phishing Attacks: Training Best Practices
Employees who receive training on recognizing phishing scams are less likely to fall victim to one. A good training program should be:
- Ongoing: Employees need regular reminders about phishing and other cyber threats to maintain vigilance.
- Realistic and practical: It’s crucial for staff to understand how these attacks work in real life, so training should include real examples of phishing emails and scams.
- Interactive: Online HIPAA training for medical office staff should require the active participation of trainees while learning new skills; this will help them commit what they’re learning to memory more effectively than simply listening to a lecture passively.
Conclusion
Phishing scams are a serious threat to medical staff and patients alike. The best way to avoid falling victim is by educating employees about the importance of security policies and procedures. This training will help them recognize phishing attacks when they see them so that they can best prevent and report them before any severe damage is done.
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