A recent HIMSS survey found that that three-quarters of healthcare organizations experienced a significant security incident in the past 12 months. Common points of compromise were listed as web application attacks, unsecure customer networks, weak passwords, misconfigured cloud servers, and human error. However, approximately 62 percent of respondents pinpointed email security as the initial point of compromise.
Unfortunately, the likelihood of sensitive data becoming compromised from email is extremely high due to the myriad of tools available to generate phishing emails. According to research by PhishMe, phishing emails are behind successful cyberattacks 91% of the time. Last year, even tech giant Google was vulnerable to a phishing scheme that targeted approximately one billion Gmail users globally.
Although healthcare organizations are taking necessary measures to improve their cybersecurity, the fact remains that communicating via email is simply not as secure as communicating via fax. In addition to phishing schemes, email is also susceptible to imminent threats of cyber hacking and hard-drive or server crashes which can compromise sensitive and confidential data.
Today, fax is shedding its antiquated image and is being redefined for the modern era. Fax can ensure security, compliance and the guaranteed delivery of business-critical information more than email ever could.
To guarantee the secure transfer of information between two endpoints, ETHERFAX SENx utilizes well-defined end-to-end encryption methods such as those defined in the Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme (ECIES). This hybrid encryption scheme uses Elliptic Curve Cryptography to generate a shared secret between peers to seed the encryption process with unique keying material, while signing and authentication mechanisms assure the validity of the data in transit.
End-to-end encryption not only protects data at each endpoint, it also protects data at rest. Since information is never de-encrypted and re-encrypted, even if a third-party were to snoop on the information in transit, it would be indecipherable. Most importantly, end-to-end encryption schemes ensure secure transmissions even over unsecured channels.
As a cloud fax solution, ETHERFAX SENx securely transports unstructured data while complying with government mandated regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Fax’s key role in healthcare data security best practices is the reason why the online fax market is projected to be worth $2.4 billion by 2022.
Is your healthcare organization ready to replace risky email exchanges with secure fax messaging? If so, let’s chat!