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On Paper Dental Records

3 Responses

1. Darrell Pruitt DDS, on April 9, 2021 at 12:34 AM said:

   EDRs

   If you were given a choice between a dentist who uploads your protected health information on a computer/internet, and a dentist who only uses paper records stored in loud, heavy, sheet metal filing cabinets, which one would you choose?

   Which one is vulnerable to ransomware?

   Darrell Pruitt DDS

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2. Darrell Pruitt DDS, on May 15, 2021 at 7:28 PM said:

   Ransomware: A triple threat

   If a ransomware attack results in patients’ identities appearing on the internet, they are going to be pissed at you, Doc, for letting it happen. Now imagine how pissed your (former) patients will be when attackers start demanding money from them as well. Are you really ready for this?

   “Ransomware’s New Swindle: Triple Extortion – Ransomware attackers are now demanding cash from the customers of victims too. Ransomware attacks are exploding at a staggering rate, and so are the ransoms being demanded. Now experts are warning against a new threat — triple extortion — which means that attackers are expanding out to demand payments from customers, partners and other third parties related to the initial breach to grab even more cash for their crimes.”

   -By Becky Bracken for Threatpost, May 14, 2021.
   https://threatpost.com/ransomwares-swindle-triple-extortion/166149/

   Bracken: “Check Point’s latest ransomware report found that over the past year, ransomware payments have spiked by 171 percent, averaging about $310,000 — and that globally, the number of attacks has surged by 102 percent. Healthcare organizations are most likely to be attacked by ransomware groups and globally the sector is on the receiving end of an average of 109 attempts every week, followed by utilities and the legal and insurance sectors, according to Check Point’s report.”

   Don’t let anyone tell you digital dental records are less likely to be stolen than paper kept in heavy, bulky and loud metal filing cabinets. That would be a lie.

   Darrell Pruitt DDS

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3. Darrell Pruitt DDS, on July 6, 2021 at 9:38 PM said:

   Was going paperless a mistake?

   Doc, unless you keep paper records, in the next few days you may learn that your practice is a victim of REvil ransomware, and your patients must be duly warned of the breach – even though some may never return to your office.

   As information surfaces about the ransomware attack on U.S. technology firm Kaseya, we already know dentists with digital records will be listed among those who will soon suffer devastating harm through no fault of their own. Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola says as much. He estimates the victim number to be in the low thousands; mostly small businesses “like dental practices, architecture firms, plastic surgery centers, libraries, things like that.” (See: “Kaseya Rules Out Supply-Chain Attack; Says VSA 0-Day Hit Its Customers Directly” By Ravie Lakshmanan for The Hacker News, July 6, 2021).
   https://thehackernews.com/2021/07/kaseya-rules-out-supply-chain-attack.html

   “Voccola said in an interview that only between 50-60 of the company’s 37,000 customers were compromised. But 70% were managed service providers who use the company’s hacked VSA software to manage multiple customers. It automates the installation of software and security updates and manages backups and other vital tasks.”

   So was practice management software a mistake, Doc?

   Darrell Pruitt DDS

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