Cyber Security
Protecting patient data from cyber threats is not only a legal and ethical obligation but also crucial for maintaining public trust.
Healthcare Sector
Cyber security is an ever-evolving challenge
The UK healthcare sector increasingly relies on digital technology to improve patient care and streamline operations, making the NHS a significant target for cyber criminals. Hackers look to exploit sensitive patient data or demand money by holding organisations to ransom. This take-down of healthcare workers’ access to IT networks, leads to data loss and dangerous security breaches.
The risk of an insecure network and its connected medical devices goes far beyond stolen medical records. In an environment full of life critical devices, patient safety is of the utmost importance and a security breach can lead to essential medical equipment being compromised or put out of use.
Wavenet is an established name in healthcare technology, providing data, voice, and cyber security services for healthcare organisations across the UK, from central government departments and NHS Trusts to GP surgeries.
Managed Cyber Services
With Wavenet’s cybersecurity solutions, the healthcare sector can achieve the network access control and automation required to remove the risk of human error, validate, and protect clinical devices, and ensure patient safety, security, and privacy. What’s more, Extreme Networks is the first major cloud-managed networking vendor to attain ISO/IEC 27001 certification for its Information Security Management Systems (ISMS).
Resilient wired and wireless network infrastructure provided to healthcare organisations, allows for the efficient on-boarding and management of devices used by patients and clinicians with the necessary security capabilities for data compliance.
The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and connected medical equipment increases the attack surface for cyber criminals. Extreme Defender for IoT is a unique, award-winning solution that delivers security for end points. Especially targeted to aging, wired medical devices that need to roam around a room, building, or campus, it complements existing security infrastructure by adding additional defence directly to the device. With its ability to be deployed over any network infrastructure, secure IoT management can be enabled without significant network changes.
Wavenet, in partnership with Extreme Networks, enables the healthcare sector to address all of today’s cybersecurity challenges in a centralised and highly efficient way. Staying compliant with GDPR and other healthcare regulations like HIPAA, we utilise measures such as:
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Network and application firewalls.
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Intrusion detection.
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Continuous network and data monitoring.
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Remote access security procedures.
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Malware protection and prevention.
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Incident management.
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Managing user privileges - changing user passwords, creating new user accounts, deleting user account, and maintaining audit logs.
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Training and awareness programs to reduce the risk of human error.
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Server configuration of devices.
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Content filtering and moderation of platforms that protect.
Disaster Recovery Solutions
Most cybersecurity breaches can be prevented by simple steps, like making sure staff do not use weak or compromised passwords and checking software systems are being updated automatically. Healthcare organisations should also have plans in place to detect and eliminate malware within their systems. These plans should include measures to minimise the impact of a security breach and to speed up the organisation’s response. By adopting a ‘defence-in-depth’ approach, using multiple layers of defense with various mitigation techniques at each layer, malware can be detected quickly and prevented from causing significant harm.
Alongside cybersecurity measures, all data assets should be backed up in a bullet-proof manner. This way, if the unthinkable does happen, medical records and resources can be recovered the moment they’re needed. To prepare the healthcare sector for the unexpected, Wavenet’s Disaster Recovery Solutions include:
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Virtualisation of the server to protect critical IT infrastructure.
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Onsite and offsite data backup of files and applications.
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Replication of data to multiple devices in real-time so workloads can be back online in a matter of minutes.
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Network redundancy that ensures network connectivity is never lost.
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Hardware replacement in the event of a hardware failure.
Cyber Essentials
Cyber Essentials Certification is a world-leading, cost-effective, UK government backed assurance mechanism that assess an organisation’s current cybersecurity position. It aims to ensure that the right processes and technical controls are in place to assist in blocking and partially mitigating 99% of possible cyber-attacks. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) recommends that all healthcare organisations, both providers and suppliers, achieve Cyber Essentials Plus certification.
Wavenet are Cyber Essentials Plus certified as well as an official ISAME certification body. We can carry out a detailed audit of your organisation’s current cybersecurity practices and help you address your cybersecurity challenges in a centralised and highly efficient manner. Our cybersecurity audit includes:
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On-site audit of your healthcare organisation’s cybersecurity status, looking at technical infrastructure, physical security, policies and governance, and the people that use your systems.
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A detailed report with Red, Amber, and Green action points, highlighting good practice, areas of concern, key risks, and recommendations for remediation.
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A follow up meeting to discuss the report and how Wavenet can support you further in ensuring your organisation is cybersecure.
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Hands on help throughout the Cyber Essentials certification process.
Penetration Testing
Instead of solely focusing on preventing attackers from accessing your network, it is better to assume a breach will occur and plan a strategy that reduces the impact. Healthcare organisations may have technology and procedures in place to prevent data theft, but it is difficult for organisations to find every single security weakness.
To help protect your network and electronic patient health information (PHI), you need to examine your environment the way a potential attacker would. Penetration testing is essentially a controlled form of hacking in which ‘attackers’ operate on your behalf to find the sorts of weaknesses that criminals would exploit.
To find out more about Penetration Testing and why it is a crucial component of any organisation’s cybersecurity strategy, visit our dedicated page.
Discover more
How we help healthcare organisations to collaborate, work online and harness digital technology.
Why Wavenet?
In this era of increasing digitalisation, cybersecurity is vital for the UK healthcare sector. Protecting patient data is not only an obligation but a moral duty to ensure the best care possible. By implementing robust cybersecurity measures, training personnel, and staying vigilant against evolving threats, you can maintain the trust of patients while embracing the benefits of technology that improve healthcare delivery.
Our solutions
