Technology advancements have revolutionized the healthcare industry, but with security breaches hitting an all-time high and shattering records year after year, what and who do companies have to be wary about? Read on to find out.

Insiders are a bigger threat than hackers

Protenus is one of the largest security vendors for electronic health records (EHRs) and their mid-year review sheds some important light on the most common types of security breaches in healthcare. Figures were calculated based on reported incidents to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the media, and state attorney generals. Here are several key findings all pointed towards one direction; those being:

• 41% of the health and data breaches in 2017 were caused by insiders. These errors, leaks and incidents are estimated to have affected over 1 million patient records and are on course to overtake the number of breaches in 2016.
• Security breaches caused insiders were mostly simple accidents, but these accounted for a larger chunk of security incidents which affected patient records.
• Insider accidents affected over 420,000 patient records, whereas, insider wrongdoings affected over 740,000 patient records.
• On average, insider breaches go unnoticed for 387 days. This is because insiders, malicious or not, are using legitimate credentials, making inappropriate use much harder to detect.

Hackers are not far behind

• Hacking accounted for 32% of all reported incidents, and garnered more media attention because hackers usually disrupt a large amount of patient records in a single incident. It is estimated that close to 1.5 million patient records were breached by them.
• Extortion is on the rise, and it comes as no surprise that the healthcare industry has become an easy target due to an ever-increasing volume of sensitive data and lack of security measures. There were 46 recorded incidents in September, compared to 33 in August.
• As cyber criminals' attempts to access patient records become more rampant and sophisticated, companies, now more than ever must be wary of security breaches. The data presented in Protenus’ report highlights some of the most common causes of a security breach and emphasizes the importance of two methods companies should use to potentially reduce compromises in security: IT training and ongoing education on security methods to counter errors made by insiders, preventing cyber attacks, and proactively reacting to malicious insiders.

To ensure peace of mind, you need IT professionals with years of experience in preventing security breaches all while adapting to the ever-changing and fast-paced technological landscape of today. Call us today so we can help secure and manage your highly valuable electronic medical records!

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Ever thought about connecting a mouse or a keyboard to your Android tablet or smartphone? Many Android devices will actually allow you to do just that! Here’s what you need to know to let the fun begin.

USB keyboards, mice, and gamepads

Android phones and tablets don’t come with standard, full-size USB ports so you can’t plug a USB accessory directly into it. To connect, you’ll need a USB on-the-go (OTG) cable, which is simply a micro-USB adapter that can be purchased from any computer store for a couple dollars.

From there, your accessories should work without any further configuration. In fact, USB OTG even allows you to use other USB devices with your Android, like a flash drive.

Keep in mind that not every Android device has the port that’s required to support USB OTG. Such is the case with a Nexus 4 smartphone. Make sure to Google your device’s specs before purchasing a USB OTG cable.

Bluetooth keyboards, mice, and gamepads

While USB OTG works well, wires do add clutter to what is supposed to be a portable device. This is where Bluetooth technology comes in. Most Android devices will allow you to connect wireless mice, keyboards, and gamepads directly by pairing them with your Android Bluetooth settings.

Using each accessory

All your accessories should work in a plug-and-play manner, and here’s what you can expect from each of them.

• Keyboard: Once connected, you should be able to use it to type on your Android tablet just like the onscreen keyboard. Many of the keyboard shortcuts work like they do on computers, too. These include Alt+Tab for switching between apps, and Ctrl+X, C, or V for Cut, Copy, and Paste.
• Mouse: Connecting a mouse will allow you to navigate and click on things you’d normally tap on your Android device with a mouse cursor. You can still use the touchscreen while the mouse is connected.
• Gamepad: While gamepads can be used to navigate through your Android’s home-screen interface and launch applications, they’re better used with games that support controllers like Sonic and many others.

You’ll be surprised at the number of things you can do to get the most out of your Android device. If you have any questions about Android or are looking to integrate it into your business, give us a call and we’ll be happy to advise.

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Unlike maintaining multiple servers, which have to be manually installed and configured, deploying virtual machines (VMs) require very little effort. By making a few simple adjustments in your virtualization console, you can easily create a virtual instance with enough resources to run even the most demanding apps. But this simplicity also introduces a new risk, and it’s called VM sprawl.

The dangers of VM sprawl
VM sprawl is a phenomenon that occurs when there are too many virtual machines on a network. Although VMs can be deployed quickly, it’s important to understand that they have the same licensing, security, and compliance requirements as your other computers and servers. So when administrators are given free rein to create as many virtual instances as they want, issues concerning the management of VM licenses and security begin to appear.

In addition, having too many virtual instances running at the same time exhausts server resources and forces IT administrators to work overtime. What’s worse is some VMs are forgotten about, which can lead to security risks and higher costs.

In fact, recent studies found 30% of all virtual servers are ‘comatose,’ which means companies are paying for licenses they’re not using. Unused VMs are also not patched and maintained properly, leaving them exposed to escape attacks -- a type of hack whereby an attacker exploits a vulnerable VM to compromise an IT infrastructure.

With this in mind, here are a few things you can do to stay on top of VM sprawl.

Establish VM creation policies
Businesses should have policies in place for limiting the creation of unnecessary VMs. For instance, you can have a policy that forbids users to deploy a new VM unless they specify a good reason. This way, they’re more likely to think twice before requesting resources they may not need. You should also place limits on how many VMs each department can create to keep your virtualized environment small and manageable.

Document VMs
Documenting every VM in your network should be standard protocol in your company. They should be organized by their purpose (e.g., backups, app testing, resource-intensive software usage), who they are assigned to, and what patch version they are currently on. This will make it easier to manage software updates and identify non-essential VMs.

Implement lifecycle management tools
For businesses with large-scale VM deployments, lifecycle management tools can give you total visibility of how many VMs are running on the network, how they’re being utilized, and who created them. Such tools also allow you to review which VMs are necessary to your operations and automatically decommission the ones that no longer serve a purpose.

For example, you can set time-based policies which remove VMs that were needed for only a short time (e.g., those used for app testing). This ensures you’re not wasting resources on idle VMs.

Although virtualization is a powerful solution, it must be carefully managed if you want to realize its cost-cutting and efficiency-boosting benefits. So if you’re experiencing VM sprawl or other virtualization issues, call our experts today!

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Are you finding it difficult to find new hires despite your job postings? We don’t blame you as the recruitment competition is more intense than ever before. This is why you need all the help you can get to advertise your openings. Enter Google for Jobs.

What is it?

Google for Jobs is a search feature that sorts and prominently displays job listings from career sites in Google Search. It allows anyone looking for a job to access listings using different filters such as position and city, and apply directly from Google for Jobs instead of having to visit different websites.

How will it benefit your company?

Since Google for Jobs lets candidates search for positions using filters like location and expertise, employers can in turn find people who meet their criteria quite easily.

Along with your job listings, it also displays your company logo, reviews, ratings, and salary range estimates, which can be used by candidates. This not only boosts your company’s online exposure, but also helps persuade candidates to apply too.

Other than Google for Jobs, applicants are also able to choose which service they want to use to apply. For example, if they’re interested in a job opening from LinkedIn and already have a profile there, they can simply apply via LinkedIn.

Google has also revealed that a bookmark button that allows users to save jobs right in Google search will be introduced soon. These integrations might not seem so useful, but they’ll definitely help make the whole process easier for you and potential candidates.

How to get your job openings on Google for Jobs?

The first option is to use a third-party job site. All you need is to post on job boards that are integrated with Google job search engine. These include Facebook, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, Snagajob, Monster, and Jibe, among others. Once you have that, Google will automatically retrieve your postings and all the details to be shown in Google for Jobs.

The second option is to integrate directly with Google, in which case you’ll need to edit the HTML of your job postings’ website so Google can index your postings. Here’s how:

• Make your web pages indexible
• Optimize your job descriptions for SEO by using relevant keywords, avoiding jargon, and using photos and videos
• Include structured data of your job posting in your listing
• Inform Google about changes to your postings by updating and using sitemaps

Once your career openings are on Google for Jobs, tracking click rates and viewing analytics can be done easily using Google Search Console, the company’s free site monitoring and maintenance tool.

It’s exciting to see what else Google has up its sleeve. If you have any questions about how you can use solutions from Google to enhance your business, feel free to give us a call.

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