Let’s just start by saying, there is a lot of information in Why Does Website Security Matter – Ep 342 of the Help Me With HIPAA podcast! The HIPAA Say WHATTTTTT? portion alone has so many moving parts, you will need to listen to it with a pen in hand. Did you know that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a Breach Notification Rule? The good news is, if you are a covered entity or a business associate of a covered entity under HIPAA, the FTC rule does not apply to you. Yes, my head tilted to the left when I heard that as well, but if you are a business associate that deals with personal health records, you may need to review the FTC regulations. Listen to Donna and David discuss those really cool health related apps that may not fall under HIPAA, but the FTC Health Breach Notification Rule may apply.
Did you know most of the time there is a difference between a person who designs your business’ website and a person who secures it? Think about it this way. Mr. Sam Frankly is thinking about having the family portrait taken so he goes and Googles “photographers near me”. Sam finds BestPhotographerInTheCity.com and clicks on their website. The website opens up to show examples of some very beautiful photographs of flowers, portraits, animals, etc. There is a place to book a session and pay a deposit. This website is really easy to navigate and has a great layout. This is the work of a wonderfully talented web designer. Sam, not ready to make an appointment right then, saves the website to his bookmarks. Time passes and Sam and his wife Betty are now ready to book the family’s appointment. Sam, with Betty looking over his shoulder, goes to his bookmarks, clicks on BestPhotographerInTheCity.com and an explicit site comes up. Sam’s wife is not amused, but that is another story. The fact that the link took Sam to the explicit site and not the photographer’s site he saw previously is likely due to lack of security on the website. Now as bad as that was for Sam, what if everything looked the same on the website, but the payment was diverted to a hackers account? The appointment is made but the link to the photographer’s calendar is broken, so he doesn’t know about the appointment and doesn’t show up. This is bad for the photographer’s business. Many businesses think that you can just put up a website and all is well, but you need to make sure there are proper security measures in place to protect your website.
Listen to Ep 342, Why Does Website Security Matter? Donna and David share plenty of real, scary stories that affected way more people than just Sam and his marriage. Hackers don’t just attack your website, they can deliver malware to your people who visit your site as well. That would not be good for your business reputation. Remember, just like there is a difference between IT and cybersecurity, there is a difference between a web designer and a person who secures your website.