Breaches amongst healthcare organizations have been on the rise in the last few years, but massive cyber attacks in recent months are the cause of immediate concern. In the first half of 2024 alone, it’s been reported that HealthEquity faced a breach affecting 4.5 million in the U.S., RiteAid was subject to an attack impacting 2.2 million users, and Change Healthcare–a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group–reported the data of potentially one-third of Americans was leaked.
All three breaches were reported to have each lost at least two or more of these sensitive Protected Health Information (PHI) data points, including:
- Full name
- Address
- Date of birth
- SSN
- Taxpayer details
- Driver license number
- Dependents’ information
- Employer and employee IDs
- Payment card information
- Medical history
- Health insurance details
In a world where sharing personal details with providers to receive care is necessary, patients must have trust that their healthcare organizations are safeguarding their highly sensitive information. Without proper cybersecurity protocols in place around PHI, companies providing healthcare services risk losing retention, their integrity, and the trust of their communities, all of which are necessary to survive in this climate.
How do data breaches happen?
Vulnerable Third-Party Solutions
It’s common for multiple companies to use third-party service providers; however, when a service provider is breached, all organizations utilizing their services are implicated.
This happened to HealthEquity, which was using HealthEC, a health management solution company. HealthEC was the initial target of the breach, which led to the implication of 4.5 million HealthEquity users’ data.
Unprotected Log-in Processes
If a company only has one authentication precaution in place for users, its systems are extremely vulnerable and a likely target for hackers. However, using multi-function authentication (MFA) precautions can make you 99% less likely to be hacked.
MFA requires a user to verify their identity by using more than one authentication method, such as a badge swipe, PIN, QR code, or password verification, to access guarded information. This essentially adds multiple hoops for a hacker to jump through to gain information. These authentication methods are often used to log in to patient or provider portals, request subscriptions, schedule appointments, or access a repository of data.
In the case of the pharmacy chain RiteAid’s ransomware attack, a hacker simply used an employee’s log-in credentials and gained access to the businesses’ systems.
For Change Healthcare, Chief Executive Officer of UnitedHealth Group Andrew Witty explicitly revealed that the attack happened because UnitedHealth was not using multi-factor authentication, regardless of it being an industry standard.
Is my print environment at risk of a data breach?
Print environments have historically been a vulnerable attack surface (remember PrintNightmare?) for hackers to access company and PHI data. By implementing a print management solution like PrinterLogic, you can protect your network using these security features:
Zero Trust Printing: Reduce attack surfaces by eliminating old infrastructure like print servers.
Secure Release Printing: Protect sensitive documents using MFA for print job retrieval.
Off-Network Printing: Allow remote employees and contractors to print on the go while maintaining security.
IdP Integrations: Securely use leading third-party Identity Providers to store and manage passwords and other authentication data.
Rules & Routing: Configure criteria that prevent unauthorized users from printing documents with specific keywords and patient information.
How can using PrinterLogic prevent cyber attacks?
PrinterLogic’s print management solution is a cloud-native, centralized platform that ensures the PHI information your org handles is protected internally and externally, preventing threats on all fronts. Print jobs stay on the local network, and you get unlimited access to security features that defend against internal and external cyber threats.
In addition, PrinterLogic is certified as a SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001:2022 compliant solution designed to help you better protect your data, improve compliance with industry regulations, and increase customer trust.
Gear up to prevent attacks against your healthcare organization’s print environment by booking a demo. Still want to learn more? Here’s everything you need to know about getting started with PrinterLogic.