By By Dan Hounsell

For all the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced, it also has brought a host of advances and efficiencies to healthcare facilities. It has expanded telehealth and compelled a shift to remote work,for example. But such activities also have added vulnerabilities for some organizations and exposed problems related to cyber attacks, including ransomware and phishing.

Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston shored up its security infrastructure in early 2020 by establishing an incident command center, according to Health Tech. Its objective was to continue the ability to safeguard the network and enable clinicians to provide quality patient care 

During the pandemic, Texas Children’s has seen a 100 percent increase in scam emails related to the coronavirus, COVID-19 and personal protective equipment. Texas Children’s has established multiple layers of defense for email. 

To protect patient and financial data, a proper security setup should include multiple controls such as a proxy, network firewall, application-level firewalls, encryption, dedicated denial of service protection and two-factor authentication. Health systems also should implement systems such as “tap and go” to log on to EHR systems. Together, password, badge and physical access comprise the multiple layers of strong access management for a hospital.

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