PHARMACY owners and managers are being urged to cut former employees' access to pharmacy IT systems to avoid potential data breaches, following a recent court case involving a disgruntled former staff member who attempted to access a Gold Coast pharmacy's network.
Fred IT General Manager Managed Services, Andrew McManus, told Pharmacy Daily that the case emphasised the need for pharmacists to act quickly to secure their IT infrastructure following the termination of a colleague's employment.
"Cyber security is more important than ever, with increasing threats from cyber-criminals and as we saw recently, from an ex-employee," he said.
"Couple that with the Notifiable Data Breach Scheme and cyber security needs to be managed like any other business risk.
"Breaking it down to people, process and technology can help identify the main areas to focus on.
"There are specific things that are important to keep in mind when an employee leaves, in short, it is disabling their access to any pharmacy or general IT systems.
"Particularly anything that allows remote access.
"It's good to regularly review whether remote access is really required and who has it. Fred recommends caution anytime a remote application is set-up as they are common targets for hackers."
McManus said owners and managers should disable the former employee's access to remote access networks, email accounts, store wi-fi, telephone systems, and ensure they return any work-issued hardware or devices such as laptops or phones.
He also recommended contacting suppliers to inform them of the employee's departure, and where applicable to change door codes, or locks to secure the physical store.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 28 Feb 20
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 28 Feb 20
