October is Cyber Security Month

In Canada, October is Cyber Security Awareness Month. This internationally recognized campaign helps businesses and the public learn more about the importance of cyber security and staying secure online.  

Cyber security monitoring is an ongoing operational activity at HDC. Our architecture and anonymization processes ensure that information about a clinic’s patients is protected to minimize the risks of cyber-attacks or other breaches. Patient-level data is never brought into HDC Discover and cannot be attributed to aggregations. 

In addition, our team continues to complete cyber security training to recognize Phishing, Impersonation and Tailgating acts, through KnowBe4, the world’s largest integrated platform for security awareness training combined with simulated phishing attacks. Physicians also have access to similar security awareness programs through Doctors of BC. 

The Physician Office IT Security Guide provides practical steps and best practices to enhance privacy and security at the clinic level, and help physicians protect against security breaches and cyberattacks. This information helps physicians, clinic staff, and IT support to create a security culture within their practice and increase awareness of common safeguards to protect patient information.   

To assist physicians in meeting their obligations under the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), Doctors of BC, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC created the BC Physician Privacy Toolkit. We highly recommend all clinicians to familiarize themselves with the risks associated with cyber security and the opportunities to protect their clinics and their patients. Doctors of BC also offers tips for preventing physical and online attacks.  

We can all play a role as human firewalls. At corporate, clinic and individual levels we are all responsible for safeguarding cyber security and protecting our online profiles. This Cyber Security Awareness Month, let’s ensure we’re doing all we can to keep you and your practice safe.