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Look into acquiring content control filtering software For many companies, content control software is primarily used to as part of their cybersecurity defences when faced with issues such as phishing. Content control filtering software can prevent employees and customers from visiting phishing websites and can protect against the accidental installation of malware.
Data loss or data theft can be next to catastrophic for your pharmacy and could see you subject to legislation due to the personal information nature of the data. From a financial perspective, malware and ransomware infections can also prove incredibly costly to resolve. Content control filtering software can mitigate risk levels and keep your networks protected from the increasingly wide range of threats posed by the Internet.
as an added bonus, this type of software also restricts employees’ access to inappropriate website content. everyone knows how easy it is to ‘spend five minutes’ browsing on the Internet, only to find a couple of hours have slipped by! Content control filtering software not only removes access to inappropriate content, but ensures that employees’ work time is spent productively, ensuring that your business remains competitive and continually moving forward.
Reduce malware risks In order to keep your computer and personal information protected, it’s
vitally important that you establish anti-malware defences across your business. an anti-malware is a software that protects your computers from malware such as spyware, adware, and worms. The software scans the system for all types of malicious software that manage to reach the computer and is also designed to eliminate malware from the computer.
an anti-malware program has many benefits, particularly when it comes to keeping your computer secure. It also ensures that: • you’re protected from hackers. When anti-malware is installed, you can browse the web safely • your privacy is protected. Cyber criminals use your personal information to their advantage, so an anti-malware prevents any software that steals personal from installing on your computer • your valuable files are secured. With any potential malware or viruses removed from your computer, you can have peace of mind knowing that your data are protected.
an anti-malware will also keep you updated with regard to your software, prompting you when a new version or update is available online.
Behaviour monitoring/analysis While pharmacy was one of few professions to not experience ‘lockdown’, today’s cyber security problems means that pharmacies everywhere have to seek out increasingly sophisticated ways of
COMMENT: KeITH MCLeRNON, MD, MCLeRNONS
pharmacy IT security keeps me awake at night! I know that sounds a bit melodramatic, but it is true. every day I receive multiple emails advising of cyber attacks on community pharmacies and other healthcare facilities all around the world, and the figures are mind-boggling.
If a pharmacy is the subject of ransom ware, it could potentially lose its business overnight. and that doesn’t take into account any fines which might be imposed by the Information Commissioner should it be found to have been in breach of the legislation!
We have a great relationship with our customers, built up over years and decades, and they regard us as their pharmacy IT partner. However, there are some things that we cannot do for them, and one of them is retrieve data if they have been hacked into. We have safeguards and checks built into our software, but the pharmacy is still ultimately responsible for its IT network, for the provision of firewalls, for the regular changing of passwords, for carrying out frequent backups and for the training of its staff.
We can help give advice on our preferred partners, but the pharmacy has to make the decision to make increased cyber security a priority. My worry is that, at the moment, this isn’t seen as a big deal, and it won’t be a big deal until a pharmacy’s system is hacked into and the pharmacist phones our Customer Service team asking for help. That is not to say that we can’t help – but the pharmacy has to be proactive on its part.
We have recently switched our remote monitoring and management service, with enhanced antivirus, and we will be rolling this out to all our customers in the next few months. However, individual pharmacies need to carefully review their current cyber security provisions and seek to upgrade them as soon as possible.
18 - pHaRMaCy IN FOCuS
preventing breaches and break-ins. One method that’s becoming popular is behavioural monitoring or analysis, which focuses on detecting suspicious network or user behaviour.
understanding who is using a network, how they are using it, and whether their actions and activity are acceptable is at the heart of behavioural analysis. The technology relies on packet detection, signature detection, log analysis, and advanced analytics in addition to artificial intelligence techniques. These techniques will help you to detect and block attempts to breach your pharmacy’s security.
Behavioural analysis is particularly suitable for detecting certain types of anomalies: • Schedules: Many employees work on a regular schedule. If an employee logs in or network activity occurs outside ‘normal’ hours, it’s possible that a threat exists. This might trigger further investigation, or an additional layer of authentication.
• Applications: an employee, who is using unusual or unauthorised applications such as different browsers or cloud applications can often throw up ‘red flags’. even relatively secure application platforms, such as Office 365, can present risks to data storage.
• Geography: If an employee is using an unusual WiFi network, or has logged onto the network from an irregular Ip address or geographic location, then this may require some further investigation. an employee
who is working in Belfast, for example, shouldn’t be displaying an Ip address in Cork. also, if someone is using changing Ip addresses, you would have to look into why they would be trying to mask their true location!
Manage user account rights Try to limit the number of user accounts that have additional administrative rights as these could be used to accidentally install malware. a system supplier or IT department providing your business with a ‘managed service’ will be able to set this up for you.
Scan your network regularly Scanning your network regularly is important for ensuring the network and devices on it are functioning healthily. It can also offer critical insights into devices and performance, making it easier to troubleshoot issues. Network scanning is used to recognise available network services, discover and recognise any filtering systems in place, look at what operating systems are in use, and to protect the network from attacks. It can also be used to determine the overall health of the network.
For managing Ip addresses and devices, network scanning can be done manually, but, if you have more than a few devices on your network, then a network scanning tool is essential. packet sniffing or passive scanning, which captures and tracks the traffic moving over the network in the form of data packets, is a critical task to ensure that you have network oversight. For this you will need a tool that translates packet data into easily readable information.
Continue to process sensitive data carefully you also need to consider the methods that you use to communicate sensitive information. By using NHSmail patient data can be securely communicated when both sender and recipient are using an NHSmail account. all you need to do is check that the recipient is prepared to accept the information by email and that the email address is correct.
Conclusion So there you have them... some useful steps that you can put into place to ensure that you have protected your pharmacy from cyber attack to the best of your ability.
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