Effective Jan. 13, 2023, Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) users will no longer be able to access email through the Outlook app. Instead, team members in VDI will use the “Ballad Email” icon that is located in the Start menu. Please note, this change will only affect team members working in a VDI environment; these are mostly clinical and remote users. Any team members not using VDI will continue to access their email as before. While the Outlook app will no longer function in VDI starting Jan. 13, the app icon will still be visible to anyone who has pinned it to their taskbar. It is advised that users unpin this “dead” icon from the taskbar using the following steps: Right click on the Outlook icon in the taskbar Select “Unpin from Taskbar” Users can then pin the Ballad Email icon to their taskbar if they want to keep their email readily accessible. See our list…

Email remains a popular form of communication in today’s digital world, especially in our workplaces. Unfortunately, our reliance on email has led cybercriminals to concoct new and creative ways to scam us of valuable and personal information, and one of the most commons scams involve clicking on suspicious links – otherwise known as phishing. Phishing attacks, if successful, can paralyze hospitals tasked with protecting valuable patient data. These attacks can potentially cost millions of dollars and cause patient safety issues. To ensure our health system is protected, below are a few tips to help you recognize and report a suspicious link. Hover over it One of the first steps you should take before clicking on a link is to hover over it with your mouse, WITHOUT clicking or tapping on the link. When you hover over the link, the cursor will change from a pointer to a small hand and will show the URL. From…

This message comes from Ballad Health’s IT team. Here is a mock scenario in which someone is victimized by a cybercriminal impersonating a company executive. George, a social engineer or “hacker,” knows healthcare organizations make it a standard practice to send out press releases for leadership promotions and appointments. He Googles several health systems until he finds Acme Healthcare, which recently hired Elizabeth as the new CEO for Acme’s flagship hospital. Peter works at the hospital and reports up through Elizabeth. George is preparing a “spear phishing” campaign against Acme Healthcare. Spear phishing is a type of phishing attack where hackers like George target the account of someone in authority in order to get team members working under that person to take action. The Hack George does some digging online until he finds the naming convention of Acme Health’s email addresses. He sends an email to Peter pretending to be Elizabeth after spoofing her email…

Cyber criminals know one of the best ways to rush people into making a mistake is by creating a heightened sense of urgency. And one of the easiest ways to create a sense of urgency is to take advantage of a crisis. This is why cyber criminals love it whenever there is a traumatic event with global impact. What most of us regard as a tragedy, cyber criminals view as an opportunity, such as the breakout of a war, a major natural disaster such as a volcanic explosion, and infectious disease breakouts like COVID-19. For example, during a natural disaster, they may pretend to be a charity asking for donations to save children in need. How can we protect ourselves the next time there is a big crisis or disaster, and cyber-criminals seek to exploit it? How to detect and defend against these scams The key to avoiding these scams is to be suspicious of…

Update: The Epic Feb/May 22 upgrade is complete. As a reminder, Epic will experience some downtime overnight (Tuesday night, Nov. 15, into Wednesday morning) while Ballad Health applies the February and May 22 versions. What do I need to know? The Epic upgrade will start to be applied around 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16. During this time, the Epic system will not be completely offline, but it will be placed in a Level 3 – Downtime “Read-Only” status for approximately two hours. Information cannot be entered into Epic during this downtime, and IT will send an advisory notice as soon as the upgrade is clear. Why are we doing this? These latest versions of Epic will provide improvements to Hospital Billing, Willow Ambulatory, MyChart and more. The upgrade will also assist with the future transition to Epic Hyperdrive, a web-enabled version of Epic that will streamline workflow and integrate more smoothly with other systems….

To effectively protect our health system against all cyber-related threats and trends, we must be informed about the latest tactics being used by hackers to gain access to sensitive information. A common form of manipulation is called social engineering, which is defined as the art of manipulating or deceiving you into taking action or divulging sensitive information. There are three forms of social engineering to be aware of: digital attacks, in-person attacks and mobile/phone attacks. Digital attacks These are most prevalent through phishing, a common practice where hackers go after a broad target of users with emails that look genuine but are actually intended to cause the user to click on a dangerous link. Spear phishing is another form of digital attack that targets a specific person or role at an organization. If you suspect a phishing email, click the Phish Alert button at the top of your screen to report it to IT and…

Cybercriminals love weak passwords. So, do you know what makes a password strong? Take our cyber quiz to test your knowledge. It’s only one question and we’ll even enter your name into a drawing for some Ballad Health swag. Click here to take the quiz and be entered in the prize drawing. Tips for creating a top password: Don’t use the same password for your Ballad Health account that you use for your personal accounts. Don’t share your password. Change your password when prompted. Use a password manager to securely store all your passwords instead of writing them down or saving them on your devices. To learn more about creating a strong password to protect yourself, your team and our patients, read: Keeping Your Passwords Squeaky Clean. Our cybersecurity campaign We must stay alert if we are going to protect our organization, our data, our patients and each other, and one of the best ways…

An Epic upgrade is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 16 beginning in the early hours of the morning. Here’s a quick FAQ list to tell you what you need to know. Who is affected? All Ballad Health Epic users. What is expected? On Wednesday, Nov. 16, beginning at 12:01 a.m., Epic users will experience a scheduled Epic downtime due to Ballad Health applying the February and May 22 versions of Epic. IT analysts will place a build freeze on non-emergency changes in Epic beginning Wednesday, Nov. 9, through Friday, Nov. 18, at noon. In preparation for the upgrade, the IT Clinical Informatics team will offer virtual training sessions and provide tip sheets prior to the upgrade, as applicable. The IT Clinical Informatics team will also perform facility rounding to ensure team members impacted by the upgrade are prepared for the upgrade and associated downtime. The Clinical Informatics team members will continue their rounding late Tuesday, Nov….

This message comes from Ballad Health’s IT team. Here’s a mock scenario in which someone is victimized by a cybercrime due to information provided on social media. Suzie lists her place of employment on Facebook. She hasn’t enabled privacy features, so her personal profile is visible to the public. She hasn’t considered the connection between her public profile and her clinic. George knows that protected health information (PHI) or personal identifying information (PII) will fetch a fantastic price, so George is on the hunt for a healthcare employee to exploit. He sees on Suzie’s profile that she works at a medical clinic. He also sees Suzie’s post that she’s on vacation in The Bahamas. THE HACK George calls the clinic, and Patti answers. George: Hello, I’m William Lyons, and I’ve been working with Suzie on quoting a new backup server for the clinic. Is she available? George doesn’t know if the clinic has a server…

Cyber threats to our health organization can come from many different places and can take multiple forms. While phishing is a common method of attack for hackers, it is not the only tool at their disposal. Did you know? Sometimes hackers will employ a social engineering technique known as “smishing” (from SMS phishing). These attacks function much like a phishing attack, but the scam occurs through text instead of through email. Since text scams are less common than email scams, it is easier to be caught by one unexpectedly, but these attacks can be just as dangerous as a phishing attempt. Often these attacks involve the hacker impersonating someone reputable or influential within an organization and using this false identity to build trust and obtain personal information from the target of the attack. Frequently sought information includes passwords, credit card numbers and bank information. As the hacker gains more information about their victim, though, they…

As a health system, we must remain vigilant of all cybersecurity threats and trends in order for us to effectively protect our patients and each other. And it all starts with you! Each team member is our first line of defense against cyberattacks. As a team, we must stay educated and informed on the latest cybersecurity threats so we can properly identify them and report them to our IT department. Security awareness training provides every team member with a fundamental understanding that there are imminent and ongoing cyber threats, while also preparing enterprise team members for common cyberattacks and threats. Phishing is a common practice whereby hackers go after a broad target of users with emails that look genuine but are actually intended to lead the user to click on dangerous links — possibly divulging usernames, passwords, personally identifiable information, even financial information. Phishing is akin to throwing out a wide net full of bait…