In the healthcare industry collecting, storing, and managing clients’ sensitive data is a mainstay of your everyday operations. This data is Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and it’s critical to handle it with care to protect your patients, abide by state and federal regulations, and build trusting and long-term client relationships.
Today we’re taking a closer look at what PII is, the risks that arise when this sensitive data isn’t protected and a breach occurs, and how our friendly and knowledgeable nerd herd can support Ballarat healthcare providers. Let’s jump into it below.
What is PII?
Personally Identifiable Information is a set or singular piece of data that can be used to identify someone. For example, information that falls within this category can include an individual’s:
- First and/or last name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Phone number
- Driver’s license number
- Medical records
- Financial data
What are the risks when PII isn’t protected?
While protecting PII in the healthcare sector has always been a priority, today’s cyber threat landscape has made this task even more critical. This includes a rise in data breaches in Australia, with cyber criminals targeting PII to carry out identity theft, fraud, and phishing scams. For healthcare providers, a successful attack can result in:
- Significant reputational damage, including a loss of trust with existing patients that can have long term effects.
- Financial loss, which includes the costs of regulatory fines, investigating the incident, IT and cyber security upgrades, and resultant downtime.
- Compromised patient safety if data is lost, including corruption or accidental deletion.
Australian Regulations
In Australia, there are a range of regulations healthcare providers must abide by to protect their patients’ sensitive data. This includes:
- The Privacy Act 1988
This legislation regulates how businesses and government agencies handle personally identifiable information. It covers collection, use, storage, and disclosure of this data. This also includes the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme, which requires organisations covered by the Privacy Act 1988 to notify individuals who have been affected and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) when a data breach has occurred that is likely to cause harm. You can learn more about this scheme, including the information the notification should include, here. - State and Territory Laws
There are also some states and territories with privacy laws that healthcare providers need to abide by. In Victoria, this includes the Health Records Act 2001 which regulates how health data can be collected and handled.
Best Practices for Protecting PII
Now we’ve looked at the regulations governing how PII should be protected, let’s go over some best practices for securing this data.
- Hold Regular Staff Training
Ensure your team understand privacy requirements, regulations, and internal processes when handling PII. You should also keep them up to date with current cyber security threats, including phishing scams. This can be delivered through resources and training sessions, including Security Awareness Training. This is essential to develop a culture committed to upholding data security, reduce the risk of human error, and support compliance.
- Install Software Updates
This practice stops cyber criminals from exploiting security vulnerabilities in your software. Software updates address these risks, and should be installed as soon as they become available.
- Encrypt Data
This is critical to support data security, changing PII so it’s unreadable and requires a key to be decrypted. If cyber criminals access your patients’ PII, a data breach occurs through human error, or a device is lost or stolen, encryption ensures data will remain secure and private.
- Implement Network Security Practices
Robust network security measures should be implemented, including firewalls, access control, and software that monitors your network to identify malicious or unusual behaviour.
- Backup Data
Regular backups ensure data can be recovered if it’s lost, changed, or destroyed by human error, a cyber attack such as ransomware, or in the event of a disaster. This is vital to support patient safety and protect accurate PII. Backups should be regularly tested for reliability and securely stored.
- Use Strong Passwords
Creating strong passwords is essential to secure PII. Your team should never reuse passwords, and create unique passwords that include 14 or more characters. Best practices include avoiding personal information such as names or birthdays, and using uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers.
- Use Multi-factor Authentication
Implementing multi-factor authentication where possible adds another layer of security to protect your patients’ PII. It requires users to provide an additional verification method on top of their password, such as a code or biometrics.
- Conduct Pentesting
These audits identify vulnerabilities and demonstrate how they could be exploited by hackers, providing essential information needed to address risks and strengthen your cyber security defences.
- Remove Unneeded PII
When PII is no longer required, it should be deleted to protect clients and reduce risks. This includes sensitive information retained in backups or in hard copy formats.
How We Can Help
We’re a Ballarat-based MSP passionate about helping healthcare providers to uphold data security, meet compliance, and safeguard PII. Our knowledgeable team have the experience and skills to implement thorough and robust measures, supporting your team and preserving trusting client relationships. If you’d like to learn more about how we can help, get in touch with us today here.