SOLUTION PROVIDER Q&A Cloud Security for the
What are the biggest challenges healthcare organizations are communicating to you when it comes to cloud security?
The conversation for healthcare organiza- tions has always been: is the cloud safe, and how do we ensure we remain compliant? Along with that is the challenge of providing appropriate access to their employees. The regulatory obligations to protect healthcare data are rigorous, so the biggest challenge lies in creating a secure environment that can account for the sheer volume of end users and connected medical devices that need varying levels of access and security. For example, the hospital flower shop and the cardiology department both require external access, but their security needs are like night and day. Healthcare organizations require granularity to protect a wide range of interests and provide the proper level of access for every device and every user. To take it a step further, ensuring that security protections are working and fulfilling their legal requirements—and properly reporting on these efforts—are major challenges for many providers.
How do you anticipate cyberattacks will trend in 2021 for this sector?
A carryover we’re seeing from 2020 is a nota- ble rise in ransomware and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks due to the increase in distance health services, such as doctor visits via video. Unfortunately, the additional types of telehealth services provide more potential entry points for cybercrime. A ran- somware attack, where hackers use malware to restrict access to data and ask for a ransom to retrieve it, not only disrupts business, but it can also have a lasting impact on healthcare organizations in particular because of the seri- ous implications for credibility. We’re also expecting a continuation in COVID-19 related attacks. Cybersecurity threats often play on
Healthcare Sector in 2021 The Latest Info on Trending Cyber Attacks and How to Prevent Them
very current, topical issues. This year that happens to be the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine distribution. It’s important to com- municate to patients that they should remain hypervigilant in evaluating communications about vaccines and health insurance and ensure they’re never giving away sensitive information to a would-be attacker.
Could you provide an example of how Consolidated has helped a healthcare client throughout the pandemic?
One of our Internet customers, Angelina County & Cities Health District (ACCHD) in Texas, was one of the first to spring to action when COVID-19 began, and we partnered with them on a pretty extraordinary project. They are a vital healthcare organization serv- ing more than 5,000 patients annually across a five-city area, so at the onset of the pan- demic, they immediately started transitioning to phone or videoconference appointments and curbside medication pick-up. They also committed to creating a new call center— within three business days. We helped them add more unified com-
munications platform seats, create a dedicated phone number and add more VoIP phones. Remarkably, the call center was up and run- ning within 48 hours. It allowed call center agents to conduct phone screens to help people determine if they needed to go to a drive-through testing locations or to the emergency room. Agents could also transfer calls to area hospitals. The early screening was key to allocating limited tests to those who needed them most. About a week after the Coronavirus Call Center went live, the county reported its first positive COVID-19 case. By early May, the call center had tracked 131 confirmed cases across the three counties it serves, and in the first six weeks, agents fielded a total of 2,500 calls. The good that it did for tracking cases in the area was tre- mendous and we were proud to be a part of making it a success.
Craig Pabich Security Product Manager Consolidated Communications
Are you noticing any cybersecurity-related trends the healthcare community should keep an eye on?
When it comes to cybersecurity, proactivity is crucial, now more than ever. Healthcare organizations should continue to emphasize mitigating “day-zero attacks” before they happen. A day-zero (sometimes referred to as “zero-day”) attack is simply referring to malware that has yet been seen or identified by most common threat prevention data- bases. Virtually millions of new threats are being created in cyberspace each day, and it can be very difficult for healthcare organiza- tions to stay on top of and protect themselves against these evolving threats. Consolidated Communications’ Cloud Secure is a security platform that prevents an ever-growing list of innovative day-zero threats. Moreover, it uniquely integrates next-gen firewall capa- bilities, advanced endpoint protection and threat intelligence to allow IT resources to stay focused on strategic initiatives. Learn more at
www.consolidated.com/ cloudsecure.
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www.consolidated.com/cloudsecure
MARCH/APRIL 2021 |
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