Health service providers have again been told to improve their data security arrangements to better safeguard patient information.
Following a review of data security systems, the Care Quality Commission and the National Data Guardian this month wrote a joint letter to NHS trusts highlighting areas for improvement. This included the “use of up-to-date technology with the latest protection in place” which they said was “vitally important to mitigate the evolving cyber security threat.”
At Healthcode, we know our technology must be your first line of defence against data breaches and not your Achilles heel. Here are five ways that our users can avoid a costly breach of data protection law:
- Make the most of the latest encryption standards to send data – we use Transport Layer Security (TLS) to protect and secure data communications sent through Healthcode’s systems. Remember that standard unencrypted email is inherently insecure and should never be used to send invoices or identifiable patient information.
- Never share your log-in details – we provide individual ID and passwords for every user so contact us if you want to set someone up on the system.
- Always use the latest browser to access the internet – older browsers are less secure and Microsoft ended its support for Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 in January 2016. Healthcode does not recommend accessing our services through browsers that are security vulnerable.
- Ignore prompts to save your user ID and password on your system as this will make your account vulnerable to unauthorised users.
- Always log-out of Healthcode system and lock your screen before leaving your computer. Healthcode’s system will lock automatically and return to the log-in screen after 20 minutes.