Cybersecurity essentials for small clinics and practices

Small practices are attractive targets precisely because they hold sensitive data with limited defences. Most incidents, however, exploit basic gaps rather than sophisticated techniques.

Enable multi-factor authentication everywhere, especially on email. Compromised email accounts are the most common entry point and the most damaging.

Back up daily, keep one copy offline or immutable, and restore a test file every quarter. A backup that has never been restored is an assumption, not a control.

Limit access by role. Reception staff rarely need full clinical records, and departing staff accounts should be closed the same day.

Train briefly and often. A fifteen-minute quarterly session on phishing and device handling is worth more than an annual policy document nobody reads.