PHARMACY owners are being urged to invest in measures to protect against malicious attacks, with Fred IT Managed Services General Manager, Andrew McManus, warning that cyber threats are real.
Speaking at the Australian Pharmacy Professional Conference (APP) last week, McManus said that since mandatory data breach notification legislation was introducted in 2017 the health sector experienced the highest volume of data breaches in Australia.
"You might think, 'how real is that threat, can it really happen to my pharmacy?'", he said.
"Well from our personal experience, I can say it does.
"The frequency is interesting, it tends to go in batches, we had two pharmacies have ransomware [attacks] on the same day two weeks ago.
"On average anywhere between three and five pharmacies every six to eight weeks tend to get a ransomware attack, so the scale is significant."
Since launching a 24/7 cyber surveillance service last year, McManus said the company's security experts were taking steps to protect against high volumes of threats against pharmacies' data.
"We are now monitoring a few hundred pharmacies and what we're able to do is block malicious IPs," he said.
"And what's taken me is the sheer volume of malicious IPs trying to access pharmacy networks.
"We're blocking over 50,000 IPs a month, and that's only through a few hundred pharmacies."
In addition to investing in round the clock monitoring services, McManus advised pharmacy owners against "surfing the net" on computers used for dispensing to minimise exposure to threats.
McManus also warned owners that having antivirus software would not prevent malicious attacks, describing it as a first level of security similar to a lock on a door.
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