The Importance of Cybersecurity in Senior Living Organizations

Senior care organizations have unique cybersecurity needs that their outsourced IT services must meet. In a long-term care community, every data point represents a person. When a bad actor compromises that data, the people you care for are at risk. Discover critical cybersecurity issues in senior care and what IT teams and organizations can do to combat them.

What Makes Cybersecurity for Senior Living Providers Important?

The healthcare industry faces many more data risks than other industries, and there are tangible costs associated with cyber attacks. Healthcare surpassed all other sectors in 2023 for the average data breach cost, topping the charts at over $10 million — almost double the average of the next-closest industry. Organizations can also experience reputational harm and an erosion of trust that further impacts their potential to attract and retain residents.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) indicates cyber threats continue to grow. Since the agency began tracking data in October 2009, annual incident reports for healthcare organizations have almost quadrupled. New records set in 2023 include the highest number of annual data breaches reported and the most records exposed, with over 133 million records breached across 725 incidents.

Reasons that make this industry an attractive one for cyber criminals include:

• Healthcare’s comparatively low level of cybersecurity development and staff awareness and preparedness
• The high value and volume of healthcare data
• The time it takes to detect medical fraud compared to other fraud types
• Advancements in cybercrime
• The prevalence of legacy systems and applications
• A growing number of internet-connected devices, such as fall sensors, which can create vulnerable entry points

Also, the senior living industry doesn’t have cybersecurity regulations specific to its requirements. This absence is not necessarily due to neglect but because long-term care security needs change daily. Technology grows exponentially, making it difficult to protect data from future developments. An organization’s leadership must devote extra effort to safeguarding their residents’ information.

Special Considerations for Long-Term Care Security

The senior care industry’s unique qualities add a few challenges to cybersecurity. Care communities tend to be smaller operations than other businesses, with lower budgets and fewer staff members. These traits make it challenging for them to devote resources to fighting cyber threats. Also, senior retirement organizations must follow government regulations like HIPAA, HITECH and NIST. While these laws provide added security, they also further strain resources.

Fortunately, there are some cost-effective ways to improve your community’s security and reduce cyber attack risk:

• Get to know the tactics: Cyber attack methods continually evolve, and staying up to date with changes is essential. Familiarize yourself with the latest techniques so that you’re likelier to spot red flags when you see them.
• Train your workforce: Your employees are your first defense against a cyber attack. Raising their awareness and teaching them how to respond to an incident is crucial to protecting your community and its residents.
• Use secure passwords: A password that includes lower-case letters, upper-case letters, numbers and symbols provides the highest level of security. You can follow these rules while creating an easy-to-remember password. For example, instead of using “sunshine” as a password, replace the letters to create a password like “SunSh1n3!.”
• Control access permissions: Change your database’s settings so that employees see only relevant data. Most programs let you assign permissions by organizational role or to individual staff members. When an employee leaves, immediately remove their account from the system.
• Run antivirus and malware scans: Paid security software completes more thorough scans than the free versions. However, any antivirus is better than no antivirus.
• Partner with expert IT outsourcing companies: Choose a third-party IT partner with cybersecurity experience in senior living and long-term care communities. These professionals understand the unique risks these organizations face and know how to mitigate them.

Cybersecurity for Senior Citizens

If you give residents access to the Internet, you must teach them about basic cybersecurity practices. Ideas to consider include:

• Give residents safety tips: Offer helpful tips in your community newsletter or on message boards in common areas.
• Provide in-person training: Add classes to your organization’s activity schedule that will engage your residents in hands-on training. Potential subjects you can discuss include safe internet browsing and handling suspicious emails.
• Use spam filters: Instituting robust spam filters can prevent fraudulent communications from reaching residents’ inboxes. Email security support services from an IT partner like Prelude Services also help boost your residents’ protection against attacks.

Strengthen Your Community’s Cybersecurity With Prelude Services

We founded Prelude Services on the idea that every long-term care organization should have access to exceptional IT support and effective cybersecurity services. Our expert teams provide nationwide strategic IT planning, management, support and security exclusively for healthcare organizations. 

Contact us to talk about how we can help keep your community and its residents safer in the digital world.