Imagine this. Jane, your front desk receptionist, arrives on Monday morning to start the day. Much to her surprise, she can’t log into the systems – everything is locked. You realize your systems have been compromised by ransomware and it takes three days for you to recover your data, systems and resume normal operations. Now, what if you had known that a basic cybersecurity course would’ve taught your team how to recognize and avoid cyber threats like the phishing email that led to this? As you’ve seen with data breaches of the American Dental Association (ADA) in 2022, and the Alberta Dental Service Corporation (ADSC) in August 2023, threats to the healthcare industry, including dental practices, are escalating. A dental office needs to protect sensitive personal health information (PHI) and practice data, and often without the bigger budgets available to bigger companies. The good news is that even basic security awareness training for your team can make a big impact on the security of your practice.
Cybersecurity Awareness Training In the world of cyber threats, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. In our fast-paced evolving world, regular training sessions, updated guidelines, and open communication amongst staff are essential to guard against cybercrime. Data protection in a dental practice is a team effort. The goal of cybersecurity training isn’t to create in-house cybersecurity experts, it’s to cultivate a culture of awareness and responsibility.
Top 5 Cyber Threats for Dental Practices
- Ransomware attacks lock your data until a ransom is paid.
- Phishing attacks trick you into revealing sensitive information
- Human error due to lack of cybersecurity awareness.
- Unsecured devices that haven’t been updated or configured properly.
- Inadequate backup leads to lost or corrupt data and excruciating downtime which makes recovery operations costly and time-consuming.
The Benefits of Cybersecurity Awareness Training
Mitigating Human Error: Up to 85% of data breaches are caused by human error. (Verizon 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report) The easiest solution is to train teams to recognize cyber threats which reduce the risk of compromised systems.
Maintaining Regulatory and Legal Compliance: Your practice and patient data must be handled and protected as per federal, provincial and college regulations. Cybersecurity awareness training helps your team understand their roles, responsibilities, and ramifications around protecting data.
Protecting Your Bottom Line: Losing your data directly impacts your bottom line. Cyberattacks come at a high cost. Training is more cost-effective than paying a ransom, and/or losing patient data which has associated legal costs and unanticipated downtime. In 2019, the Canadian Dental Association presented the cost of a breach per patient PHI and credit card data at $256.34 per record.
Patient Trust & Practice Reputation: Any breaches can undermine your patients’ trust as well as your reputation in the community. It takes time to regain that trust and/or rebuild your practice if you lose patients.
Creating a Culture of Cybersecurity: A well-trained team is one of the best and most affordable defenses against cybercrimes.
How Can I Train My Team?
myla™’s easy-to-understand Cybersecurity Awareness Training contextualizes cyber threats for dental personnel. This training in conjunction with myla moments, Canada’s premier newsletter for digital dental practices, helps dental teams stay “in the know” and keep practice data and systems safe. Online training is fast and effective taking about 33 minutes to complete. It’s a win-win for your practice and more importantly, your patients. Understanding that different team members interface with the office systems and technologies in different ways, myla™ also offers role-based training for dentists, office managers, front-desk, and other clinical team members. Team training works and works for you!
