DESPITE a myriad of very public security breaches, a recent Commonwealth Bank survey revealed that just 39% of pharmacists believe they were adequately prepared to handle a security incident.
An example of a data breach took place in Mar, in the United States, where PharMerica filed a notification, HERE, where almost six million customers' personal information was stolen, the breach was a nightmare for all concerned.
To avoid just such an incident, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia's security policy underscores the dangers, "pharmacies handle a large volume of highly confidential, sensitive information concerning the use of scheduled medicines and patient health records".
It reminds members to be aware of the Australian Privacy Principles, HERE, and that pharmacists "must take reasonable steps to protect personal information...from misuse, interference and loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure".
"An entity has obligations to destroy or de-identify personal information in certain circumstances," the Guild stated.
Kabie Senga, director of Net Affinity an IT-managed services provider, said, "it's important to have a culture of security awareness at the workplace".
"Invest in security training and encourage your staff to have strong individual passwords and implement multi-factor authentication.
"And definitely take down the Post-It notes with passwords you have attached to your screens!"
The Pharmacy Guild policy also advises care with passwords and backups, and that pharmacies have up-to-date security software.
"Passwords should include upper-, lower-case letters, special characters and numbers, and are changed regularly.
"Up-to-date security software that includes a firewall, anti-virus and anti-spyware.
"Perform regular (daily) local backups of key systems such as the dispensary computer.
"Store backups securely in an off-site location."
Senga agreed and added that security products like Webroot or Sentinel One use predictive analytics to deliver a greater level of protection. DA
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 25 Sep 23
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 25 Sep 23
