HIPAA Tip: The Importance of Vulnerability Scans

Per NIST a Vulnerability Scan is a technique used to identify hosts/host attributes and associated vulnerabilities. Vulnerability scans can help identify weaknesses in applications, networks and firewalls that may lead to security incidents such as unauthorized access, disclosure, modification or destruction of information, or interference with system operations.

The HIPAA Rules do not explicitly require Vulnerability Scans; however, during the annual comprehensive Security Risk Analysis (SRA) they are an important tool to help organizations comply with the rule. The Scan is an automated process that identifies and reports potential security weaknesses in systems and software. Why is this important? Through these weaknesses hackers can exploit a network. Taking a proactive approach and conducting Vulnerability Scans maintain strong security for systems, data, employees, and ultimately, patients.

New vulnerabilities are discovered constantly or can be introduced as a result of system changes. Criminal hackers use automated tools to identify and exploit known vulnerabilities and access unsecured systems, networks, or data. All it takes is one vulnerability for an attacker to access your network. Protect the organization from breaches and the exposure of sensitive data (PHI) by conducting regular Vulnerability Scans.

HIPAA compliance isn’t a one-time checklist. It’s ongoing, programmatic in nature, and requires demonstrated reasonable diligence to stay in good standing with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Anatomy IT can provide you peace of mind with our expert HIPAA compliance services. To learn more, contact us here.

Author:

Dawn Meglino

HIPAA Compliance Specialist, CHPSE, CCSA, CCAP