Using WinRAR in the Healthcare Sector

Healthcare providers store mountains of personal and sensitive information about individuals. This data must be kept safe and secure and storage must adhere to strict regulations such as the HIPAA, GDPR and HITECH.

With ransomware and malware attacks becoming more common and more sophisticated, the data that healthcare providers store should, at the very minimum, be encrypted. Preventing access to data that contains a multitude of Personal Health Information (PHI) is the first action to be taken in order to minimize the risk of a data leak.

Even if the files can be located, the information contained inside them should not be available to anyone without authorization or the correct encryption key.

• Securely Store Healthcare Records
  
  These are often held in huge databases and need to be easily accessible. Healthcare records should be encrypted before they are stored in databases, on portable devices, or in the cloud. All hard drives should be fully encrypted, so that in the event that one is lost or stolen the data cannot be compromised.
  
  
• Securely Store Clinical Data
  
  Numerous research and clinical trials are conducted by healthcare institutions each year; and this information can be precious to hackers, foreign governments or competing research centers. They may want to steal the patents or the intellectual property connected to ongoing projects. This data should also be encrypted with AES 256-bit encryption technology.
  
  
• Securely Transfer Medical Information & Patient Records
  
  Thousands of files containing sensitive healthcare records and patient information are shared within and between different healthcare providers every day. Protecting this data during transit is easy with the use of a trusted encryption tool.
  
  

Staff Education – ensure that the chosen encryption and file archiving software is user-friendly and simple to implement on the entire network.

Restrict Access – administrators should have full control over who has access to the stored data, narrowing the chance of a data leak.

Log & Monitor use – it is essential to know how and when data is being accessed. Time-stamping files and setting regular data back-ups is mandatory.

Encrypt all Data – using an encryption tool for transferring and sending data files and storing data at rest is paramount in preventing sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands.

Secure all Mobile Devices – so much data is stored on portable devices these days that it is essential that all files and hard drives are fully encrypted to prevent modification or data breaches.

Regular Back Up's – regularly backing up data is a crucial job for all IT departments and administrators. Managing software upgrades and preventing bugs aids in disaster recovery should a system malfunction occur.

Encrypt file and archive names with WinRAR’s AES 256-bit data encryption technology. This ensures that it is virtually impossible to guess the contents of the files that contain sensitive data.

Cloud and mobile storage and transfer between departments is secure and safe.

Administrator commands provide organizations with the control needed when storing, sharing, and accessing data. WinRAR’s password manager comes built-in and helps users better manage the passwords required to prevent sensitive data from unauthorized access.

The time-stamp function hands further control to administrators, storing the exact time that archives were modified and showing who accessed the data. Used alongside WinRAR’s back up feature and the Lock Archive option, it is easy to prevent accidental modification of files.

WinRAR’s Recovery Record helps to restore damaged archives. If used in conjunction with other anti-virus tools, WinRAR can scan files and alert users to malicious content contained within them before the contents of the archives is unpacked.

25 years of experience gives WinRAR the edge over the competition. Its reputation as one of the most used and trusted compression and encryption tools on Windows makes it the top choice for those working within the Healthcare Sector. With constant improvements, a professional Sales & Support team, and compliancy with all privacy regulations including the GDPR and HIPAA, WinRAR is the best tool for healthcare professionals to safeguard sensitive data.

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