Pharmacy Daily | Fred issues pharmacy cyber warning

PHARMACISTS are being urged to take steps to protect against cyber attacks, as the rollout of electronic prescriptions continues.

Fred IT Group CEO, Paul Naismith, warned pharmacy owners that following the introduction of the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme and mandatory reporting of cyber attacks in 2018, the health sector had been a primary target, with Australian businesses recording a cybercrime every 10 minutes.

"The surge in reported cyber attacks of the last two years is only the tip of the iceberg, as many attempts go unreported," he said.

"It is important that pharmacies factor cyber security into their planning so that they can focus on business as usual, whilst remaining confident that their pharmacy is protected against the potentially disastrous implications of data loss that can result from a cyber attack.

"Electronic prescriptions will also mean that pharmacies are working with larger amounts of digital data, and that data will be increasingly important to their business continuity.

"To prepare for this move, we urge pharmacies to pay attention to their cyber security protection.

"Cyber security has become an important area of compliance for pharmacy.

"Our industry faces the same responsibilities to notify of data breaches that other businesses face.

"Quality Care 2020 also requires that pharmacies are taking action in cyber security.

"These changes highlight the importance that pharmacies stay across this increasing area of risk.

"We urge pharmacies to run security audits and to actively think about their processes for protecting against cybercrime."

Fred IT Group General Manager, Andrew McManus, has described recent cyber attack warnings from Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, as a wake-up call for pharmacists (PD 22 Jun).

McManus said pharmacists should consider using a 24/7 security operating centre, such as Fred Protect, to provide round-the-clock cyber surveillance to protect against data breaches.

Fred Protect includes software and hardware protection, risk assessment, training, and incident response guides.