...News...
This Month's
Issue: April 2006
Identity Theft in the Age of Technology
Why You Should Encrypt Your Email
Tip of the Month: Top Six Cyber Security Tips |
HIPAA Tip:
Identity
Theft in the Age of Technology
In this age of technology,
identity theft has reached epidemic proportions. If your office is utilizing the
Internet, make sure that you have proper safeguards and policies in place and
that your employees are aware of some common identity theft schemes.
“Phishing” is one such
scheme. The scam works this way; e-mails are sent by identity thieves that
appear to be from nationally known banks and other legitimate-sounding entities.
They will ask the recipient to verify their user names, account numbers, and
access codes. Recent research reports that these types of scams fool one in 20
people, which is why the thieves keep at it. (For more information on common
phishing schemes, visit
http://www.phishinginfo.org.)
Phishing is just one of many
security issues. Viruses, spyware, and other malicious software can provide a
portal through which Internet criminals can steal patient health records or
personal or practice financial data.
Protecting your practice from
digital invasion does not have to cost a great deal of money. In fact, half the
battle is just having the proper policy and procedure in place and providing
training and awareness to your employees. Protecting your practice is good
business sense. It is also a requirement of the HIPAA security rule, which
requires physician offices to take appropriate steps to assure the security and
confidentiality of their patients’ electronic medical records and other
protected health information.
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The total number of electronic
mailboxes in the world has soared 83.5 percent in the past year to
669,171,660 mailboxes.
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In the U.S., the average corporate email
user has around 2 mailboxes, and the average household using email has about 5
mailboxes.
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There are about 90 million Americans using
email at work and roughly 60 million households using email.
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There are probably 187 million Americans
using email at home or at work, 68 percent of the population.
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There are fewer than one billion
televisions in the world, fewer than 800 million phone lines, and 569.2 million
mailboxes.
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This Month's Tip:
TOP SIX CYBER
SECURITY TIPS
1. Use “anti-virus
software” and keep it up to date.
Make sure you have anti-virus software on your computer! Anti-virus software is
designed to protect you and your computer against known viruses so you don’t
have to worry. But with new viruses emerging daily, anti-virus programs need
regular updates, like annual flu shots, to recognize these new viruses. Be sure
to update your anti-virus software regularly! The more often you keep it
updated, say once a week, the better. Check with the web site of your anti-virus
software company to see some sample descriptions of viruses and to get regular
updates for your software. Stop viruses in their tracks!
2. Don’t open emails or attachments from unknown sources. Be suspicious of
any unexpected email attachments even if they appear to be from someone you
know.
A simple rule of thumb is that if you don't know the person who is sending you
an email, be very careful about opening the email and any file attached to it.
Should you receive a suspicious email, the best thing to do is to delete the
entire message, including any attachment. If you are determined to open a file
from an unknown source, save it first and run your virus checker on that file,
but also understand that there is still a risk. If the mail appears to be from
someone you know, still treat it with caution if it has a suspicious subject
line (e.g. “Iloveyou” or “Anna Kounikova”) or if it otherwise seems suspicious
(e.g., it was sent in the middle of the night). Also be careful if you receive
many copies of the same message from either known or unknown sources. Finally,
remember that even friends and family may accidentally send you a virus or the
e-mail may have been sent from their machines without their knowledge. Such was
the case with the "I Love You" virus that spread to millions of people in 2001.
When in doubt, delete!
3. Protect your computer from Internet intruders – use “firewalls.”
Equip your computer with a firewall! Firewalls create a protective wall between
your computer and the outside world. They come in two forms, software firewalls
that run on your personal computer and hardware firewalls (usually for servers)
that protect a number of computers at the same time. They work by filtering out
unauthorized or potentially dangerous types of data from the Internet, while
still allowing other (good) data to reach your computer. Firewalls also ensure
that unauthorized persons can’t gain access to your computer while you’re
connected to the Internet. Be careful about using default settings. Make sure
the settings are providing the right amount of protection. Customizing is always
recommended. 4. Regularly download security updates and “patches” for operating systems
and other software.
Most major software companies today release updates and patches to close newly
discovered vulnerabilities in their software. Sometimes bugs are discovered in a
program that may allow a criminal hacker to attack your computer. Before most of
these attacks occur, the software companies or vendors create free patches for
you that they post on their web sites. You need to be sure you download and
install the patches! Check your software vendors’ web sites regularly for new
security patches or use the automated patching features that some companies
offer. Ensure that you are getting patches from the correct patch update site.
Many systems have been compromised this past year by installing patches obtained
from bogus update sites or emails that appear to be from a vendor that provides
links to those bogus sites. If you don’t have the time to do the work yourself,
download and install a utility program to do it for you. There are available
software programs that can perform this task for you. Stay informed!
5. Use hard-to-guess passwords. Mix upper case, lower case, numbers, or
other characters not easy to find in a dictionary, and make sure they are at
least eight characters long.
Passwords will only keep outsiders out if they are difficult to guess! Don’t
share your password, and don’t use the same password in more than one place. If
someone should happen to guess one of your passwords, you don’t want them to be
able to use it in other places. The golden rules of passwords are: (1) A
password should have a minimum of 8 characters, be as meaningless as possible,
and use uppercase letters, lowercase letters, symbols and numbers, e.g.,
xk2&LP97. (2) Change passwords regularly, at least every 90 days. (3) Do not
give out your password to anyone! For enhanced security, use some form of
two-factor authentication. Two-factor authentication is a way to gain access by
combining something you know (PIN) with something you have (token or smart
card).
6. Back-up your computer data regularly.
Experienced computer users know that there are two types of people: those who
have already lost data and those who are going to experience the pain of losing
data in the future. Many people make weekly backups of all their
important data. And make sure you have your original software start-up disks
handy and available in the event your computer system files get damaged. Be
prepared! |
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