by Felicien | Aug 28, 2018 | Education
Is Windows 10 Enterprise Right For Your Business?
With the threats of cyber-attack at an all-time high, there’s no better time to reexamine your company’s operating system to see whether or not it offers the level of protection you, your company, and your clients deserve.
Windows 10 Enterprise ranks high among today’s most popular operating systems for large companies and it’s worth the expense. This operating system is beneficial to large businesses for a variety of reasons.
It features intelligent security, simplified updates, flexible management, and enhanced productivity. There are a number of other solid benefits to using Windows 10 Enterprise.
One of the main things that users notice about this operating system is that it makes up for what was lacking in Windows 8. The developers added many of the same familiar features that made Windows 7 so popular.
But Windows 10 Enterprise has much better security and an optimized interface for greater mobility within the workplace. All of this combined makes a strong case for why large organizations ought to consider Windows 10. It can breathe new life into your workflow and enable stronger productivity.
Enhanced Security
In terms of security, Windows 10 Enterprise is a viable option for businesses of all sizes, but particularly useful for large businesses. Windows 10 Enterprise’s Advanced Threat Protection, or ATP, has proven well worth its weight for peace of mind. In fact, the operating system was virtually unaffected during WannaCry, the largest global ransomware attack to date.
Its solid performance under this type of intrusion is a testament to its capabilities to keep businesses protected. For this reason, large businesses with much at stake would do well to examine Windows 10 as an option, especially if they’ve been impacted by large-scale global attacks like WannaCry in the past.
Device Guard, Windows Hello, and Microsoft Passport are just a few added security features to help users maintain privacy.
Device Guard
Device Guard isn’t just one feature, rather a set of three features that work cohesively to protect your system and eliminate any untrusted code from infiltrating a Windows 10 system.
These features include Configurable Code Integrity (CCI), VSM Protected Code Integrity, and Platform and UEFI Secure Boot.
CCI is responsible for ensuring that only trusted code runs from the bootloader onward, while VSM moves KMCI and HVCI into VSM to protect them from attack. Finally, the last feature, Platform, and UEFI Secure Boot work to ensure that boot binaries and UEFI firmware are accounted for and haven’t been compromised.
Windows Hello For Business
Strong two-factor authentication is vital for robust IT security. Windows Hello for Business ensures a tough line of defense on PCs and mobile devices by going one step further. This new type of authentication boasts a unique type of user credentials associated with a device. It utilizes a biometric or PIN feature for better security, and even allows users to authenticate to an Active Directory or Azure Active Directory account.
Flexible Management
An improved interface is another big benefit of Windows 10. The ability to switch back and forth between different virtual desktops has been something Mac users have enjoyed for years now, and with Windows 10, the feature is now a reality for Microsoft users too. What’s more, the feature is simple to use, requiring just a tap of the task-switching icon.
In addition to enhanced security, Windows 10 Enterprise brings improved compatibility by way of the Microsoft Edge browser. From improved battery usage to new capabilities like reading mood and webpage markup, Edge is intended to make browsing easier and more efficient than before.
Windows 10 Enterprise also offers simplified updates with unique tools that help streamline deployment. IT employees wear many hats, and there isn’t always enough time in the workday to dedicate to repetitive tasks. Windows Autopilot allows for easy, seamless setup and deployment, meaning you can take a new device out of the box and have it fully configured and managed from the cloud, all with minimal effort from the IT department.
Insight into your organization’s IT health and overall efficiency is imperative for sustained growth. With Windows 10, IT managers can ensure employee compliance, a more effective user experience, and smooth upgrades.
Elevated Productivity
Windows 10 offers a world of opportunity for software for tasks both large and small. There is a whole selection of apps that can be full-screen or windowed. The new range of apps includes more powerful media and productivity apps, new photos, music, videos, mail, maps, and calendars.
If your business thrives on creativity, you’ll find a good range of new tools to take advantage of, including Windows Ink, 3D in Windows 10, and OneNote. OneNote offers a single place for notes and ideas, while 3D in Windows 10 allows users to add a new dimension and elevate their design work.
And in a further effort for simplicity and familiarity, Windows 10 apps are designed to sync across a variety of iOS and Android devices for easy navigating between phone and PC. Furthermore, Nearby Sharing in Microsoft Edge, OneNote, File Explorer and other apps enable users to quickly and easily transmit files and web pages to nearby PC users with the click of a button.
Wrap Up
Overall, it has become clear that Windows 10 and Windows 10 Enterprise carry a wide range of benefits for large businesses. If you feel that your organization could use some improvement in the areas of productivity, IT security, and a better user experience, then a switch to Microsoft 10 may be long overdue.
by Felicien | Aug 28, 2018 | Education
Australia’s Northern Territory – 1.35 million square kilometers with a population of an estimated 250,000, is not one of the first places you think of when one thinks of installing a state-of-the-art Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. Nonetheless, the Northern Territory is at the halfway mark to having innovative inpatient and outpatient functions for its six hospitals, 54 health centers, and numerous other health facilities. The system goal is “one patient, one record” with data shared by all providers.
As always, one of the goals of the EHR implementation is improved quality of care and improved outcomes. The Northern Territory has four times the rate of avoidable hospitalization, compared to the rest of Australia. The average age at death is 67.6, which is 14.4 years short of the national average of 82 years old. The territory has the highest rate of renal failure in the world, making dialysis services a necessity. Diabetes is widespread. 60% of males and 50% of females are smokers. 25.5% of the population is aboriginal, the highest population proportion of any Australian state or territory.
The aboriginal population has a higher incidence of several serious diseases, including diabetes, mental health problems, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and chronic kidney disease. It also has diseases that are virtually unknown outside its members: trachoma (an eye infection) and bacterial heart disease, to name a few.
The Pros and Cons of a New EHR System
The current system is described as “…held together with sticky tape” and has a history of failed efforts at replacement, as do many large health IT projects. This time, however, things appear to be on track for a successful conclusion. The project, which has five years to go to completion is on budget. This in itself is a miracle.
Any medical personnel who have been involved in an EHR implementation will tell you that growing pains are inevitable. Training, no matter how thorough, will not communicate every nuance of the system. There will be periods where a doctor tries three times to save the record of a patient visit, only to have to call a nurse to come in and show him how to do it – again. There will be downtimes that are an utter mystery to the support staff. The supposedly impossible will happen and the mainframe component will require yet another initial program load. The physicians will curse their interface as “the worst video game ever invented.”
The real benefits will become apparent only after the shakedown cruise. The system will feed data into Australia’s universal “My Health Record,” which allows patients to see much of what their providers see. Research has indicated that giving patients access to lab values and test reports can increase health awareness and prompt more meaningful conversations with providers.
Why Australia Is Creating a Better Healthcare System
Australia was among the first nations to recognize the power of a fully national electronic health record. The Health Connect program, which ran from 2005-2009, set the parameters for the successful My Health Record program and, as was expected, revealed a number of pitfalls in trying to link disparate systems.
Australia has mastered lessons the US is still struggling to learn in the areas of consistency of nomenclature and interoperability. One of the most significant lessons learned is that such a national health system does not work unless the vast majority of the population agrees to have their records made available and included in the database. For that reason, Australia is switching from an opt-in system to an opt-out system in 2018. Everyone’s data will be included unless they explicitly forbid it.
Huge Financial Savings
In 2009, it was estimated that the full implementation of My Health Record could save at least $300 million per year in reduced errors. Having one consistent record alone –“one version of the truth,” as it has been called – accounts for the bulk of that. Few are the providers who have not faced two different versions of a diagnosis, a prescription, or a lab result from the same patient and wondered which one represents reality. Having a single record prevents that. When errors do slip past the data consolidation phase, at least they are usually more obvious than they are in paper records.
Wrap Up
Australia’s national health record program, in the Health Connect period, was aimed at providing a critical subset of data. As it evolved into the My Health Record phase, it has moved towards the inclusion of virtually all data. Because of the emphasis on a national system from the beginning, it has encountered fewer road blocks than have similar efforts in the United States. Australia was also able to learn from the British experience with its National Health Service. Having a single national health plan, of course, removed many of the roadblocks that the United States has encountered.
by Felicien | Aug 27, 2018 | Education
Whether it’s physical, virtual, or in the cloud, discovering and blocking sophisticated threats in the network is at the forefront of every company’s mind. However, businesses are finding that more and more data violations are taking place when network security centers on the edge of the network are not giving equal protection to the network itself.
Security at the perimeter of the network has received most of the attention from data protection companies. What many internet service providers and businesses have neglected is protecting what lies within the network. Once attackers get into the network, they normally have free reign to steal valuable data and go undetected. What can your company do to solidify your network and protect you from hackers on the inside?
5 Ways to Prevent Privacy Violations
Prevent Data Theft with Patches
If a company’s IT department is inattentive when it comes to the application of patches, security vulnerabilities and other bugs can easily creep into a network. A patch is simply a set of changes to a computer program and its data that are created to update or fix a liability or get rid of a virus threat. Rapidly growing networks today are comprised of a wide range of networks, including the IoT and the cloud. Keeping track of the equipment inventory and the maintenance of this vast network can be a daily trial. For a company to protect its technology, applying patches is no longer an option but a necessity.
Protecting a Network with NIDS
With cloud computing as a way of life, cloud computing security is a mandatory requirement.
Network-based Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) is one of the solutions for enhancing the security aspect of cloud computing services. NIDS discovers and monitors attacks within the network. NIDS is a signature-based technique with an identification data packet throughout the network.
For the majority of companies, privacy violations are caused by attacks that have been detected for a while. Because these vulnerabilities are well-known and have already been patched, attacks can be identified through security holes in the signature. Incorporating signature-based discovery tools, businesses can seek out a breach and put a stop to it quickly.
Using Behavior-Based Analysis
Zero-day attacks to a network occur within a time frame, known as the vulnerability window. They are vulnerabilities that have not yet patched the software containing the weakness. Hackers can engineer malware that exploits compromised systems and steals valuable data. New high-level attacks are operating various techniques to evade protective measures and attack the network connections without even being noticed.
Behavior-based computer security tools can be designed to discover false or unanticipated traffic. They can destroy zero-day malware variants with what is called detonation chambers or sandboxing and link the data to defend against smart attacks. Behavior-based computer security tools allow data and applications to be scanned for malware across the network and thoroughly inspected. They look for patterns and then constantly monitor the traffic to determine the intent, preempting an attack before it starts.
Installing Web Application Firewalls
Although many attacks are caused by phishing emails or known, unpatched vulnerabilities, web-based attacks are becoming more the norm. Software that probes and calculates information directly in the data center is commonly targeted.
A web application firewall (WAF) is a filter that is designed to go before you and sift through incoming traffic detecting potential threats and malicious activity. It is one of the most common means of protecting against attacks at the application layer.
In a June 2017 survey of the top 1 million websites, Mozilla reported that an unbelievable 93.45% earned an F score at implementing basic measures to protect them from common attack methods. Companies that fail to accept and adopt application security methods are opening themselves up for constant threats and attacks.
Incorporating Network Segmentation
The modern network needs to be able to handle access through varying devices and an assortment of application and data flows. Businesses can markedly improve their network safety by installing Internal Segmentation Firewalls (ISFW). Network segmentation works by splitting a computer network into subnetworks. If the defense perimeter is breached, an access point penetrated, or if there is an attack from inside the network, ISFW prevents the spread of such threats. ISFWs can be used to protect specific servers that hold a company’s most valuable information and can also protect devices from users and web apps in the cloud.
Conclusion
Managing cyber-risk is a multi-faceted company-wide endeavor that requires implementation from the top level down. The quicker you are able to respond to a threat, the greater the chance you have of being able to stop the potential damage. However, with the implementation of these new tools and strategies, you can protect your company records from hackers. It does take a proactive approach and a watchful eye.
by Felicien | Aug 27, 2018 | Education
Identifying the Right IT Services Provider for Your Business
IT service providers, also called managed services providers (MSPs), are in the business of managing a company’s IT needs. IT service providers can offer their services both remotely and on-site. They normally render their services by one of two ways:
On an output-basis model
On a fixed-price subscription model
Pricing Model Breakdown
IT service providers often offer pricing models that are broken down per-device, per-service, per-user, and an all-inclusive subscription model. Since managed service providers charge for their services using several pricing models, it’s wise to evaluate what the essential needs of your business are in order to get the best bang for your buck.
The Balancing Act of Business Growth and IT Support
As your business starts to take off, your IT support will need to increase as well. Navigating both where your business is headed and how to manage that growth with proper IT support can be a delicate balancing act. So often, business owners tend to focus on growing their business rather than on their IT support, leaving their company open for easy attacks from online predators.
What exactly do businesses need to look for in a managed IT services provider?
Ability
The first thing to look for is an IT support provider that has a proven track record of hiring and employing properly trained employees that are well versed in both IT and the company’s vision. Look for company reviews with remarks stating that their staff is furnished with the right skills and experience to successfully execute all the expected IT tasks.
Another important item to look for is their certifications from top IT trade organizations, such as the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) or Microsoft Certified. These credentials are proof that the IT company takes training their team seriously.
Quality Customer Service
Another important factor to look for when finding the right IT provider is how quickly and effectively they respond to your company’s needs. Normally you can find this out by asking about their help desk software and ticketing system. A capable ticketing system that has a history of correctly prioritizing IT glitches is necessary for a fluid IT support team. The better the provider’s help desk and ticketing system, the more efficient the managed services provider will be. They should demonstrate a good system of keeping track of all their tasks and assignments. That way, your IT issues won’t get lost in a heap of paperwork lying on someone’s desk.
Budget Planning Value for Your Company
Too often the majority of a businesses’ IT budget goes to unexpected expenses. This puts a strain on making crucial planned improvements. You can’t purchase new computers or software when you need it. Your employees aren’t productive and there’s a higher rate of frustration in the workplace. Fortunately, a good managed IT service provider will offer managed services at a fixed rate to ensure your business runs efficiently and affordably.
By customizing the services that you get, you can focus on specific services that fit your company’s needs, such as:
Cybersecurity
Daily backups
Disaster Recovery Planning
On-Call IT Support
A necessary service for most companies is fast IT support. You never know when servers or computers might break down. Who can you call for any problem? Will they get there right away?
When combing through a company’s review section, look for their quick response rates and their on-site support. A good IT provider will be adept at hiring experts in their respective fields that they can turn to when you have a problem.
Much of the time, managed service companies can remotely diagnose and repair common errors. However, some issues cannot be resolved remotely and need to be handled on-site. Look for a company that has a reputation for being there when you need help. They should work to establish and nurture a good business relationship with you by responding quickly to your IT needs.
Cloud Integration Services
With the emergence of cloud technology, protecting your company’s data is essential. Just about every business now relies on data acquired through different means. Today, almost every IT provider offers data backups as part of their service. They normally offer different pricing options based upon the frequency of backups and the incorporation of other cloud-based services.
Just like disaster recovery planning, routine backups provide insurance against all types of disasters. It simply makes sense to back up your data frequently to avoid any type of threat to your company’s files.
Monitoring Cybersecurity
Cyberattacks are becoming more prevalent and causing major disruption and damage to even the strongest of companies. Hackers can easily breach outdated software after determining the unpatched software’s security flaws. Look for an IT services provider that has a proven track record of not only monitoring a company’s cybersecurity, but regularly testing it as well. A good IT services company will keep all software updated and secure.
IT consulting companies manage large data centers and put multiple layers of protection in place, but companies can still be breached by hackers. All it takes is one careless employee who clicks on the wrong email attachment. Employee training is a must these days. And it usually works better if you can provide quarterly training for employees. They do get busy and forget and this can result in disaster.
Summary
Keeping up with the ever-changing world of information technology means exploring new solutions as they become available to your business. When searching for the right IT services provider for your business, look at their years of experience. Check the type of industries they have worked with. Read over their client’s testimonials and reviews. When setting up a meeting with the IT company, make sure to have a summary of your business needs on hand. Come armed with a thorough list of questions for the IT consultants. With in-depth research, you will be able to determine the right IT managed services provider for your business.
by Felicien | Aug 27, 2018 | Education
More and more dental practices are outsourcing their IT needs, and are reaping the benefits of such a choice. By using a vendor, you are able to maintain better control of your IT budget, you can leave the headaches and complexity of IT technology to the experts, and you can save on office space (which is often at a premium), as well as hardware costs. However, it can be tricky to find the right provider for your dental practice, so here are seven things to look for when outsourcing your IT services.
They Take Security and Privacy Very Seriously
Dental offices are not immune to hacking and data theft. In fact, personal health information is a very desirable target for hackers. A solid IT provider will make sure that your system has up-to-date security software and tools to protect that data. This can include firewalls, encryption, anti-virus, web filters, and anti-malware software. It also entails keeping security software and tools up-to-date and patched.
No dental practice can afford to have a hacker prowling around in their patient’s data. In fact, ransomware crimes are escalating in the healthcare sector. Imagine logging into your network only to find that hackers have seized all your patient records and are holding them for ransom. Either you pay or you could lose everything. Consumers are not very forgiving when they hear that a favorite store or medical practice has been hacked.
An often-neglected aspect of security is not only making sure your data is backed up, but can be quickly recovered if an issue should arise. A good IT provider should offer a system that allows you to seamlessly continue normal operations while repairs are being performed. You can’t afford to lose access to patient files, billing information, and scheduling. Any good IT services provider should rank your network security as a number one priority.
Support HIPAA Compliance
The importance of HIPAA compliance cannot be overestimated, and you need an IT provider that is not only well-versed in the rules and regulations involved, but is as dedicated as you are to preserving the privacy of your patient’s information. A good dental IT vendor will be committed to securing your patient’s sensitive information and will offer tools and features to help support HIPAA compliance.
They Understand the Practice Management Software You Use
Dental practices have IT needs that are far different from other types of healthcare practices. It’s important to find an IT provider that is experienced not just with dental practices but with the particular type of practice management software you use. It is vital that they efficiently integrate the IT services they provide with things like patient clinical charting, radiographs, and digital x-rays. To do this well, they must be familiar with the type of software you use.
They Focus on Your Needs
A good dental IT provider will be focused on the specific needs of your practice. Before anything is implemented, you should expect your IT provider to perform a thorough review of your technology requirements. And when outsourcing your IT, make sure they understand not just the ins and outs of IT, but the special challenges involved with a dental practice. This way they can integrate the most important components of your dental practice with an effective, reliable IT system. This will ensure better productivity for your staff.
They Support Cloud Services
Another key feature to be considered when shopping for an IT provider is cloud services. Cloud services can save on the cost of (and space required for) server hardware. The cloud makes backup and disaster recovery easier and more robust. If you choose to go with a paperless office, then cloud services are your best answer. In fact, cloud services can make HIPAA compliance easier as well. There are a lot more great reasons to choose the cloud and your IT services consultant should be able to spell these out for you.
They Can Help You Scale
As your practice grows, your IT needs are going to expand. Make sure that any IT services company you are considering can help you easily scale up your IT resources both in terms of hardware and software. Whether it’s setting up additional storage for your practice’s file system or installing an upgrade of your practice management system, they should be able to fully support your needs not just now, but in the future.
They Are Strong on Support
Having the most state-of-the-art, robust IT system does your employees little good if there is poor customer support. Check into what types of remote support any potential IT providers offer. Let’s face it: when the IT network goes down, it limits access to critical files and you need that access restored ASAP. Imagine the chaos that can quickly result when your staff can no longer pull up a patient’s chart or schedule appointments.
Another aspect of support is onboarding, where the IT vendor provides you and your employees with training. Good training for your employees is vital. They may need extra help in dealing with the bugs that seem to go along with new software installations.
Conclusion
If you are planning to outsource the IT needs of your dental practice, keep in mind key factors like security, HIPAA compliance, scalability, and support. Also, don’t forget to make sure they are familiar with the practice management software you use, as well as dental office needs in general. Finding a suitable IT services provider can be challenging, but you’ll be glad you made the switch to outsourcing if you take the time to find the right IT provider for your dental practice.
by Felicien | Aug 24, 2018 | Education
EHR interoperability – considered by some to be the “holy grail” of electronic health record systems – may be a little closer than you think. This summer, a new architectural innovation will be implemented that is guaranteed to positively impact the way different EHR systems exchange information with each other.
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Interoperability
In the context of electronic health records (EHR), Interoperability refers to the ability of healthcare providers using two different EHR systems to be able to exchange patient information. A combination of standards and architecture are required in order to achieve this type of data exchange between different (and often competing) systems, and past attempts have been hampered by a wide variety of issues and concerns. However, things are about to take a dramatic turn through the work of two powerful influences in modern EHR development.
Who Is Involved
The major players in this undertaking are CommonWell Health Alliance and Carequality. Carequality works under the Sequoia Project and provides the necessary framework needed for successful data sharing among EHR systems.
CommonWell Health Alliance, on the other hand, is a network or trade association of EHR vendors. CommonWell’s goal is to make interoperability among EHR vendors a reality. Any medical facilities or doctors who use a major EHR vendor will benefit from this collaboration.
Major Accomplishment in Interoperability
CommonWell and Carequality are preparing to go live with a health information exchange that will allow doctors to share Continuity of Care Documents. This breakthrough in interoperability includes all major EHR vendors as well as the hospitals and clinics that subscribe to them. A doctor in one hospital that subscribes to a major EHR vendor will be able to exchange patient data with any other doctor that also subscribes to a different EHR vendor.
The collaboration between Carequality and CommonWell actually began back in 2016. As a result of this collaboration, Carequality created their own version of CommonWell’s record locator service. This will allow Carequality members to search patients in CommonWell’s network. CommonWell, in turn, implemented Carequality rules, which is making it possible for network members to easily query each other. This phase of interoperability is due to go live this summer, barring any unforeseen delays.
What This Will Mean for Healthcare
Once the current information exchange goes live, an estimated 80% of doctors will be able to share their patient data – even among EHRs that are fierce competitors. For those in the medical field, the ability to share patient information across EHR systems – especially as the interoperability continues to evolve and expand – will support more informed decisions about patient care. Decisions can be made more quickly and providers will have far easier access to critical patient data. This will reduce ambiguity that can adversely affect patient care and recovery. It also enables better and more efficient workflows, and no doubt will have a positive effect on patient satisfaction as patients will receive better quality care.
Current Limitations
The dream is, of course, for a physician to quickly and easily track down tiny details of a patient’s information (e.g., medication allergies). The technology and software have not progressed to that point quite yet. At this stage, physicians using major EHR systems will be able to search for and access Continuity of Care Documentation, which is basically a data dump of information about a patient.
Challenges and Concerns
It is natural that some resistance to cooperation would be present from vendors because it does not seem like good business to facilitate a client’s ability to connect with services from your competitor. Some physicians may have concerns about making it too easy for a patient to seamlessly transfer all their medical records to a different doctor. Another issue that causes difficulty for vendors is that they have clients over a continuum of sizes, from small, one-physician clinics to massive hospitals. Trying to ensure interoperability between clients at opposite ends of the spectrum may be problematic as the architecture progresses further.
Another critical challenge is one that can only be overcome by forging forward: bugs and unforeseen technical issues that arise. These can only be found and dealt with after the interoperability architecture goes live this summer, and actual users begin to interface with it in a clinical setting.
Conclusion
The ultimate goal, according to CommonWell and Carequality, is for a patient’s healthcare information to follow them wherever they go, regardless of what EHR vendor the medical facility uses. This, in turn, means that healthcare information is no longer bound by geographical boundaries. However, this dream cannot become a reality without a robust framework of standards, which is already being successfully developed through the hard work of Carequality. The process will require collaboration among sometimes competing EHR providers, which is already taking place thanks to the CommonWell network community and positive cooperation among vendors.
