According to a report conducted by The Department for Health and Social Care, the average cost for a care home who dealt with a cyber breach incident over three years was £9,528. This means that taking the correct steps to prevent a cyber security attack can significantly save unnecessary costs for care homes.
With care services handling large amounts of sensitive personal data, keeping this secure from possible breaches is extremely important. The right care management software will give you the confidence that your data is protected by the highest security standards.
What is cyber security and why does it matter to care providers?
Cyber security describes the action of protecting digital devices and systems from any malicious intent, attacks or unauthorised access. This is especially important for care services that deal with a lot of personal data on their supported individuals. This includes information such as addresses, medical and care records, names and other identifiable, sensitive data.
As a care service, this information will need to be available to carers and NHS when necessary. Ensuring this can be processed safely is essential to efficient, smooth services. Additionally, CQC inspections are becoming increasingly digital, with submission of evidence for assessment often being electronic now.
As well as being expensive to deal with, cyber incidents also have a negative effect on your reputation and trust as a care provider.
How to keep your organisation safe from cyber breaches
Having the right protocols in place and using a reliable care management software can reduce the chances of cyber security attacks. Here are some ways you can keep your organisation safe:
Passwords
Ensuring staff passwords are different for each account and are unique is important to keeping information secure. Passwords shouldn’t be shared or written where they can be accessed.
Phishing
Phishing is a very common cause of cyber breaches that can escalate into a more serious attack. This can be done via email, text message or social media, where the user is encouraged to click a link which can make your system vulnerable to malware or ransomware attacks.
Keeping your staff educated on what phishing involves and how it might look can reduce the chances of a link being clicked.
Software Updates
Making sure all devices such as a desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone and anything else used are up to date is imperative. Not keeping these updated can leave them more vulnerable to hackers gaining access.
Cyber security made simple for care providers
The right care management software can significantly reduce the chances of cyber security issues. Digitising your service is essential nowadays, as relying on paper records leaves you open to various other risks such as burglary or damage.
Log my Care is a care management software that you can trust - built on a secure, cloud-first platform. It’s accredited to ISO27001, compliant with DCB0129 clinical safety standards, and certified to NHS Cyber Essentials Plus.
When you choose our software, your data is encrypted in transit and at rest and securely hosted in resilient UK data centres for peace of mind.
With encrypted logins, enforced passcodes and role-based access controls that ensure staff only see the information relevant to their role, our software supports secure access. You can authorise or block devices instantly and, if a device is lost, data remains protected. Automatic updates keep every device aligned to the same gold standard of security.
We also meet Digital Social Care Records (DSCR) standards, align with PRSB standards such as About Me and Care and Support Plans. That means your records are not only safe but also person-centred, interoperable and future proof.
Book in a demo to explore how Log my Care can help your organisation reduce cyber risk and improve your care services.
