How a Hacker Could Potentially Assassinate a Hospital Patient

Whenever hackers show themselves, they always spell trouble. Whether it’s stealing credentials or completely taking over someone’s computer, a hacker has a plethora of targets and methods that can be irritating for the average PC user, or business executive. In fact, hackers are so crafty that they can even hack into hospital equipment.

You don’t need us to tell you that hacking into hospital technology is bad, especially considering the possibilities for loss of life. The point we’re trying to make here is that everyone is vulnerable to hacking attacks, even your business. Hackers have such a powerful influence over technology that they can directly affect physical objects, provided they’re connected to the Internet.

If there’s a technology a hacker can compromise, they most likely will try, and maybe even succeed. It’s called innovation. Businesses take advantage of it in order to gain ground in their chosen industry, and hackers will innovate to take away everything you hold dear. Data breaches can result in stolen files, including private employee records like Social Security numbers and dates of birth, or even client payment information like credit card numbers. Even if hackers don’t have a specific agenda, viruses and malware can cause data loss, leading to expensive downtime and pricey compliance fines.

Therefore, the most effective way to limit how much damage hacking attacks can do is to limit your network’s exposure to threats in the first place. Taking a proactive stance against online threats is a great way to approach cyber security. This includes integrating comprehensive security protocol and best practices that are designed to minimize your infrastructure’s risk of compromisation, as well as eliminating any current threats to your network.

A great way to achieve both goals is to use a Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution. The UTM takes all of the best aspects of cyber security and uses them to keep potential threats out, and limit the damage done by existing threats. A firewall keeps threats out while an antivirus can cleanse your systems of any potential problems. Additional security features, like spam blocking and content filtering, are available to limit your staff’s exposure to threats; spam protection keeps threatening emails out of your inbox while web content filtering blocks content that might cause infections while surfing the Internet.

Your business’s network security might not pose a threat for your employees’ physical well-being, but a data hack can cause more damage than you might initially realize. To ensure that your network is working at maximum capacity to handle hacking attacks, give Macro Systems a call at (703) 359-9211.