Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a cybersecurity advisory warning that they had “credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers." As if healthcare services aren't already hard-pressed to respond to another wave of COVID-19, ransomware is now an increasing threat that has already cost hospitals tens of millions in recent years.
What To Know
Using ransomware, which attacks a computer network and encrypts or possibly erases information, attackers are targeting healthcare organizations. With a wealth of health information at stake, these attackers can easily steal protected health data and hold that data ransom. In extreme situations, they can simply destroy data and leave healthcare networks restoring servers from backups, or worse, from scratch. While this will undoubtedly affect an organization financially, it can also have an impact on patients. Staff may be required to go to downtime procedures, which can slow response times to patients’ needs.
Precautions To Take
CISA, FBI and HHS offered some basic suggestions for how hospitals, practices and public health organizations can support their defenses to help protect against ransomware and other cyberattacks:
- Patch operating systems, software and firmware as soon as manufacturers release updates.
- Check configurations for every operating system version for HPH organization-owned assets to prevent issues from arising that local users cannot fix due to having local administration disabled.
- Regularly change passwords to network systems and accounts and avoid reusing passwords for different accounts.
- Use multi-factor authentication where possible.
- Disable unused remote access/Remote Desktop Protocol ports and monitor remote access/RDP logs.
How We Can Help
Security Advisements
Our team can act as advisors when it comes to updating IT infrastructure, ensuring that any changes made will not affect your communications system's operations. It's essential to stay on top of security and software updates, as staying within the latest rev will ensure that your facility is compliant and eligible for manufacturer support.
A Nurse Call System That Outshines Competitors
Rauland’s Responder 5 and Responder Enterprise are advanced nurse call solutions that offer a wide array of technology integrations to improve staff workflow and patient outcomes. These solutions take a unique approach to provide UL-1069 requirements, the standard for approved nurse call equipment.
While some of our competitors utilize a facility's switch network and servers to provide all nurse call functionality, Rauland Responder uses a segmented approach that minimizes the facility's infrastructure's dependency to provide the basic UL-1069 functionality. In the event of network or server infrastructure failure, the Responder hardware can continue to operate independently, providing the basic call functionality within the facility, including corridor lights and full nurse console functionality with tones.
Learn More About Rauland's Nurse Call or Schedule Time With Us
To learn more about the Rauland Responder platforms, visit here.
To schedule time with our healthcare account managers or Service team, visit here.
