Dental Practice Backup – Reviewing new technology to protect dental data and dramatically reduce downtime from server crashes and cyber attacks.
Data loss and server crashes are the worst nightmares for any business, and dental practices are no exception. With the increasing use of technology in the healthcare industry, dental practices are becoming more dependent on their IT infrastructure for day-to-day operations which makes it crucial for dental practices to have a reliable backup and disaster recovery solution.
There are plenty of stories of data loss due to server crashes, but today dentists need to be worried about other things like ransomware.
Read Dr. Patel’s ransomware story:
Dr. Patel had been running her dental office for over a decade, and her patients trusted her for their dental health. Like most of you, she invested in modern technology and digital records to create a better patient experience, increase diagnostic capabilities, and streamline treatment planning, and case acceptance. However, little did she know that this move to digital records would lead to her worst nightmare.
Clicking on a bad email delivered ransomware
One day, Dr. Patel and her staff arrived at the dental office to find that their computer systems had been hacked when one of the front desk staff had clicked on a bad attachment in an email the night before.
All their patient records, appointment schedules, and financial data were encrypted, and they could not access anything on their computers. A message popped up on the screen, stating that their data had been locked, and they would have to pay a hefty ransom to regain access.
Dr. Patel was horrified, and her staff was in a state of panic. They had never thought that something like this could happen to them, and they were not sure how to handle the situation. They called in their IT support team, who confirmed that they had been hit by ransomware, a type of malware that encrypts data and demands payment to decrypt it.
Do you really even have backup if it hasn’t been tested?
The IT support team tried their best to recover the data, but they were unsuccessful. The backups had never been tested and the data was corrupted. The second backup drive that was connected to the server ended up being encrypted by the ransomware. Dr. Patel was left with no choice but to pay the ransom, which was a huge sum of money. She was desperate to regain access to her patient’s records and other important information.
Days turned into weeks, and still, Dr. Patel and her team had not received the decryption key. They tried contacting the hackers but to no avail. It was as if they had disappeared into thin air. Dr. Patel was devastated, and her business was suffering.
Finally, after several weeks, the hackers sent the decryption key. Dr. Patel and her team were able to access some of their data, but some was still missing. The damage had been done, and they had lost a significant amount of patient information and trust.
Dr. Patel learned a valuable lesson from this experience. She realized the importance of having a reliable backup system in place, and the need for regular security updates and training for her staff.
What is the modern solution?
There are so many different choices when it comes to dental backup. Every IT provider and most practice management software companies offer it. However, they are not all equal…at all. If you are a busy specialty practice, for example, you can’t be without your systems at all. This means that many of the traditional types of dental backup solutions don’t fit your needs.
Today there are systems designed to protect from ransomware, allow for easy testing of the backup, and best of all enable recovery in minutes instead of hours or days.
I like a hybrid backup system that covers all the bases. I like to know that there is a restorable backup on-site, a restorable backup off-site, and the ability to leverage virtualization to ensure a seamless return to operations when a disaster occurs. One solution is Alexio’s 2nd Server. Alexio 2nd Server failover protection is a powerful backup and disaster recovery solution designed specifically for dental practices.
Let’s discuss why Alexio 2nd Server failover protection is so much safer for dental practices, particularly in the context of ransomware attacks and server crashes.
Today’s ransomware locks data and demands a ransom to unlock it. New tactics also involve stealing data and extorting money under the threat of publishing it.
Ransomware – the biggest online threat to dental offices
As stated in Dr. Patel’s story, ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts the victim’s files and demands a ransom payment in exchange for the decryption key.
Ransomware attacks have become increasingly common in recent years, and dental practices are a prime target due to the high use of email (the main channel for phishing attacks), and also that cyber criminals know that small healthcare practices have high-value sensitive data, but much smaller budgets to protect it.
Ransomware attacks can be devastating for dental practices. They can result in the loss of patient data, financial records, and other critical business data. In addition, ransomware attacks can cause significant downtime, which can lead to lost productivity and revenue.
Preventing data loss and downtime
For years dentists have had to use backup solutions which are often a blend of on-site and off-site drives, tapes, and cloud. They are not sufficient for today’s digital dental office environments as most dental practices cannot survive long without connectivity.
Specialists can be paralyzed, and unable to treat patients at all without computer access to X-rays, microscopes, CBCT, panorex, and other critical equipment.
Here’s why most traditional backup is deficient:
- very slow recovery process – hours or days of downtime following a disaster
- data loss
- drives can also be infected with ransomware
- human error – forgetting to take drives off-site and unplug from the server
- human error – drives or cloud backup not configured properly
- failure to test backups – (so you don’t know if it works or not)
- not all data is backed up (common to have only the PMS data but not the x-rays and finance data)
- drives are lost (unencrypted causes a reportable breach)
Solving backup and disaster recovery to accomplish a rapid return to operations
Alexio 2nd Server failover protection is designed to protect dental practices from ransomware attacks. With Alexio 2nd Server, dental practices can take frequent full working copies of their server and store them on an additional device, as well as securely offsite.
One of the key advantages of Alexio 2nd Server failover protection is its ability to perform instant virtualization. This means that in the event of a ransomware attack, Alexio 2nd Server can spin up a virtual copy of the affected server within minutes. This allows dental practices to continue their operations while the affected server is being restored.
How do you easily survive a server crash?
Server crashes can be caused by a variety of factors, including hardware failures, software errors, and power outages. Regardless of the cause, server crashes can have a significant impact on dental practices.
In the event of a server crash, dental practices can lose critical business data, patient records, and financial information. In addition, server crashes can result in extended downtime, which can lead to lost productivity and revenue.
Alexio 2nd Server failover protection is designed to protect dental practices from server crashes. The system is multi-functional providing backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity. With Alexio 2nd Server, dental practices can take frequent backups of their data and store it securely on and off-site. In the event of a server crash, Alexio 2nd Server can quickly restore the latest backup, minimizing the impact of the crash.
As discussed in the previous section, Alexio 2nd Server failover protection has the ability to perform instant virtualization. This means that in the event of a server crash, Alexio 2nd Server flips to a virtual copy of the affected server within minutes. This allows dental practices to continue their operations while the affected server is being restored.
Quick recovery from ransomware
If cybercriminals trick your staff with social engineering, and the security controls on your computers fail, you may get ransomware. Today’s cyber criminals have learned how to bypass certain security technology by using humans to allow them access to your systems. Untrained staff or neglected system maintenance can make you even more vulnerable.
If the bad guys get in and you have a weak or older backup system, you may have problems. Depending on how long hackers are in your computers, it’s possible they can infect or even delete your backup files, as was the case with Woodranch Medical who ended up going out of business.
Alexio 2nd Server uses multiple layers of security to prevent ransomware and other malware from infecting backup data.
- A tool Alexio 2nd Server uses to prevent ransomware from infecting backups is called “Infinite Cloud Retention.” This feature allows businesses to store an unlimited amount of historical backups in Alexio 2nd Server’s secure cloud infrastructure, ensuring that even if ransomware or other malware infects a system, there will always be clean, uncorrupted backups available for restoration.
- Alexio 2nd Server also uses advanced encryption to secure backup data both during transmission and at rest. This means that even if attackers manage to gain access to backup data, they will not be able to read or use it without the encryption keys.
- Another way that Alexio 2nd Server helps to prevent ransomware attacks is through its built-in malware detection capabilities. The solution constantly scans backup data for signs of malware and alerts administrators if any threats are detected.
- Much like in the event of a server crash, Alexio 2nd Server enables the ultra-fast return to operations, and quick data recovery using the backup and disaster recovery functions of the solution.
Sticking with old backup strategies is not enough to protect from today’s threats
Is your backup strategy good enough? Download this free backup vulnerability checklist compliments of myla Training Co.
As cyber threats are constantly increasing and evolving, the security tools to protect dental data must also evolve to keep up. Failover protection, full image encrypted backups stored both on-site and off-site, as well as having them tested, provides dental practices with peace of mind in knowing that their critical business data is protected in the event of a ransomware attack or server crash.
A great option is Alexio 2nd Server hybrid backup and failover protection which allows dental practices to continue their operations while the affected server is being restored. This minimizes downtime and ensures that dental practices can continue to take payments, x-rays, and treat patients.
Dental practices can get 2nd Server protection for an average cost of about $190/m. You can learn more by visiting https://getalexio.com/data-backup/
Together we can make the world safer online!
Her motto ‘no geek speak’, coupled with her humour and great story-telling, has made Anne one of Canada’s leading cybersecurity and privacy educators. Anne has dedicated her career to helping healthcare practice and small business owners understand technology, how to leverage it, and more importantly, how to do it safely. Over her 20+ years as an educator and tech innovator she has earned global awards for her efforts. Anne keeps the client as her ‘true north’ in how she creates affordable and effective tools and training for privacy & data security. Anne is on a mission to help everyone understand online threats and be able to defend themselves at home and at work when using technology.
Reach out to Anne for speaking engagements, training, and consulting.