Patient Privacy: 4 Paw-fect Email Security Habits to Guard your Vet Clinic Against Data Breaches

As the protectors of furry friends both great and small, your vet clinic handles a wealth of sensitive details daily - from medical histories and pharmaceutical records to the personal stories your loyal clients trust you with. Email is the lifeline connecting you to those clients 24/7, keeping you available with answers and reassurance during times of worry. Safeguarding this vital communication channel becomes an imperative duty in fulfilling your commitment to exceptional patient care. While email security may not be top of mind amid the rigors of clinic life, a few simple yet effective best practices expertly deployed represent the difference between peace of mind for your clients and potential disruptions that threaten the foundation of trust between you. Let us be your guide through four fundamental email security strategies your dedicated team can implement now, empowering you to:

• Safeguard patient privacy

• Maintain compliance obligations

• Reduce risks to the continuity of care for those who rely on your expertise and compassion.

With the right tools to support your vision, you can ensure nothing stands between you and relieving the suffering of those unable to speak for themselves - or bark.

1. Enable Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds a security code sent to your mobile device as a second login step, preventing unauthorized access even if a password is compromised.

With a simple 2FA setup, an animal clinic like yours can have a reduction in account takeover attempts within the first month alone.

If you use Gmail, Outlook, or a similar service, enabling 2FA is as easy as downloading an authenticator app and scanning a QR code. Keep this critical first line of defense safe!

When you're busy caring for precious patients, the last thing you need is headaches caused by hacked accounts. Two small steps forward together - a password and a code - can allow you to have a strong frontline.

2. Train Staff to Spot and Avoid Phishing Scams

Vet clinics are prime targets for phishing scams looking to dupe staff into revealing sensitive data. They are often targeted by cybercriminals due to the sensitive data they hold, including client and patient information, financial data, and medical records. Phishing is a common tactic used by these criminals to obtain this information.

Phishing emails are designed to look like legitimate messages from trusted sources, such as banks or vendors, in order to deceive the recipient into providing sensitive information or clicking on a malicious link.

One major consideration to have is to host brief monthly training for your team covering the telltale signs of phishing - poor spelling/grammar, requests to "update" details, links that don't match the URL - as well as how to properly report suspicious emails.

You could also implement a "no-reply" policy for unsolicited emails to get a reduction in phishing-related incidents. Regular reminders and refresher trainings are key to maintaining awareness. This can include sending out regular email reminders or even displaying posters in common areas. With wisdom, foresight, and a little guidance, you can ensure nothing - not even the sneakiest of phishing lures - can stand between you and your sacred duty of relieving suffering for all creatures great and small. 3. Encrypt Critical Communications via Email While email itself is not a secure channel, you can encrypt messages containing sensitive patient data at the push of a button, shielding them with military-grade protection so that only the intended recipient can unlock and read the message. Veterinary teams can automatically encrypt any email containing details on patient diagnosis, treatment or medications with a cloud-based security platform that can direct them to their local IT solutions provider. However, as a veterinary clinic that has special needs and tweaks to get its operations moving, a veterinary technology specialist or provider with HIPAA-compliance standards could allow you to:

• Automatically encrypt emails containing: - Patient diagnosis details - Treatment and medication instructions - Billing codes and insurance information

• Require the recipient to "unlock" the email with a password or passcode

• Ensure that even if intercepted, the encrypted email will be useless to unauthorized readers.

Major email services like Gmail and Outlook enable encryption with just a few clicks. Alternatively, HIPAA-compliant email encryption services deliver military-grade security for your most sensitive communications.

Already, protective clinics effortlessly encrypt over 90% of their sensitive patient communications with a single click, providing an extra layer of reassurance for clients during tough times. 4. Invest in Robust Cloud-Based Backup If your practice email goes down for even a day, the impacts on client communication and loss of critical records could be devastating – and that’s the last thing stressed patients need. Clinics who have chosen a cloud backup solution that provides an identical copy of their email database in under five minutes. After major phishing attacks, they are able to restore their entire email system from just hours before with zero data loss, safeguarding sensitive communications and scarce appointment slots. A competent cloud backup provider should offer powerful search tools, automated scheduling, and encrypted storage - all designed to safeguard your email data even in the most disruptive scenario. Fortunately, modern cloud-based backup solutions now allow you to:

• Automatically duplicate your entire email database to a secure off-site location

• Trigger a full system restore in just minutes, giving you instant access to all critical communications

• Search years of records in seconds to locate crucial details for clients

• Satisfy HIPAA data retention requirements with encrypted storage of patient records.

And all you need is a competent backup provider that offers automated, around-the-clock protection of patient records; military-grade encrypted storage of your most sensitive data, and rapid restore capabilities measured in minutes, not days.

When you're focused on the fragile lives before you, the last thing you need is worry. Secure backups ensure the history of care you've created will live on, no matter what obstacles may arise.

To sum it all up, small changes to your email security approach can yield significant results for safeguarding patient data, building client trust, and protecting your practice against disruptive threats.

Our secure vet technology and email security expertise are here to guide you in evaluating your current posture, identifying gaps, and implementing improvements tailored to your needs and budget. Contact us today to get started - when it comes to patient privacy, you can never be too secure.