Keep your information secure
April 2, 2013
There are some key things
community pharmacies can do
to assist with the security and
confidentiality of their data:
• Use complex passwords. A
password such as ‘password’,
‘letmein’ or ‘pharmacy’ is not
secure and is easily hacked – this
has happened to businesses in
recent times so don’t think it can’t
happen to you. Use non-dictionary
passwords that contain upper
and lower case characters, special
characters and numbers. One
common way to create a password
that is able to be remembered is
to base it on a phrase. For example
the phrase ‘three blind mice’ can
convert to ‘3bl1ndm1c3’.
• Make sure you have security
software that includes a firewall,
anti-virus and anti-spyware and
that it’s up to date.
• Perform regular (daily) local
backups of your key systems such
as your dispensary computer.
These backups should be stored
securely in an offsite location
and a test restore performed at
least weekly to ensure that you
can recover your systems in case
of a computer malfunction, data
integrity issue or hacking event.
• Assign a person within
your pharmacy that has overall
responsibility for information
security. They would be
responsible for managing
backups, software updates and
managing the relationship with
your external IT provider.
• Develop clear policies for
staff using your pharmacy
computers. Make sure that your
staff understands how they are to
use email, the internet and online
resources in the pharmacy.
• Use software from reputable
sources and keep it up to date.
Information security is a rapidly
changing and complex field in
information technology and
the Guild recommends that you
engage reputable companies to
advise you and help you look after
your pharmacy’s information
security needs.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 02 Apr 13To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 02 Apr 13
