Chances are likely that your medical facility is considering embracing Web conferencing in an effort to reduce outpatient visits and increase communication among your internal staff. But is this practice safe?
In short, without a secure conferencing solution, it’s not.
The truth is that hospitals are now being increasingly targeted by hackers looking to steal sensitive patient data. A recent report, for instance, names at least three hospitals where hidden malware has been found lurking on sensitive medical equipment. Hackers are using vulnerable devices like X-ray machines and blood gas analyzers to gain entry into susceptible hospital networks and then worm their way into patient databases. It’s safe to assume that many hospitals are already harboring active or dormant strands of malware and may be completely unaware of it.
That being said, an insecure conferencing platform like Skype will do little to keep a hacker from peeking in and gaining access to files exchanged during private medical communications.
A secure Web conferencing solution like Onstream Meetings, however, will offer much more protection against intruders. First and foremost, Onstream Meetings is a cloud-based service. So, even if a hospital’s network becomes infected with malware that cascades across the entire network, the same malware won’t be able to penetrate the meeting’s platform as its entire core infrastructure is safely stored offsite in protected data centers. Also, Onstream Meetings comes with advanced data encryption, which ensures that any information accessed by an unauthorized third party will be rendered useless without the proper authentication key.
So if your hospital is looking to embrace telemedicine, make sure you take security seriously. Click here to learn more about how Onstream Meetings can help.
