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BirchStreet Systems offers companies Procure-to-Pay (P2P) cloud solutions to help improve business processes by gaining efficiency, compliance and visibility to reduce costs. With their best-of-breed solutions and strong value proposition as the leading provider of Procure-to-Pay (P2P) solutions for enterprises operating in the hospitality space, BirchStreet is poised to enter its next phase of expansion into a hyper growth position.

BirchStreet Finds a Secure and Reliable Cloud Faxing Service

As a key component of success for its Procure-to-Pay (P2P) cloud solutions, BirchStreet needed a cloud-based, secure and reliable fax service partner to handle their increasing demand on reliable and timely delivery of purchase orders to suppliers around the globe on behalf of their customers that include such premium hotel brands as Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, Accor, and Four Seasons among the enterprise-wide users of its suite of SaaS on-demand solutions.

About Softlinx

Softlinx provides Secure, Reliable and Compliant Cloud Fax Service solutions via a full set of end user faxing methods as well as cloud fax APIs. By using Softlinx’ cloud fax APIs, providers of enterprise cloud application solutions such as BirchStreet can enable their solutions with a seamless application faxing capability offering the highest service availability and reliability.

BirchStreet uses Softlinx cloud fax services to send over 50,000 fax pages per month on behalf of its customers to the corners of the globe to its customers’ suppliers. By partnering with Softlinx, BirchStreet increased its worldwide success rate by 20% while cutting costs by 10%.

Contact Softlinx Today for Cloud Faxing Services

For over 20 years, Softlinx has been providing cloud-based fax and secure document delivery solutions to help our customers optimize their document workflow processes and reduce costs. Headquartered in North Reading, Massachusetts, Softlinx has built an impressive track record of helping our customers improve their business efficiency, save costs and grow their success. Contact us today to learn more about cloud faxing for businesses of all sizes and industries.

Read Full Article Here: www.BusinessChief.com

If you’re like most businesses, your organization relies heavily on emails to exchange information with colleagues, patients and other healthcare organizations. And with the proliferation of devices, email isn’t just accessed on computers anymore, but also on smartphones, tablets and even watches.

Is My Email Secure?

While all of this can be highly convenient, it also makes email a prime target for hackers and other cyber-criminals who want access to your data and systems. Knowing all of this, it’s only logical if you’re asking the question, “Is my email secure?”

Of course, if you have any suspicion whatsoever that your email might be compromised, you need to take action right away. The first thing you need to do is change your password. After that, you should run a full-system anti-virus scan on all the devices you’ve used to access that email. A good anti-virus or malware program will automatically quarantine any threats for you. Once any threats have been quarantined, you should send out a warning email to your contacts, since their email accounts might have been compromised too. And if you’re not 100 percent sure you have been able to contain the threat, you’re best advised to contact a cybersecurity specialist.

How to Keep Your Business’s Emails Secure

To answer the question of how to keep your business’s email secure, there are two factors to consider: physical access and online — or virtual — access. Let’s take a closer look at each:

Physical Access

Physical access is an often-overlooked issue when it comes to email security. Malicious insiders — people such as employees, patients and providers who are looking to exploit your organization’s data or gain access to organizations you do business with — will often try to gain access to your email. If your computers or devices are left unattended and unsecured, they’re easy prey. Here’s what you can do about it:

• Restrict access to your organization’s computers, especially those that store sensitive data: For example, you should keep computers that store patient data in an area that can only be accessed by staff, in order to be HIPAA-compliant. Make sure this area is locked when your facility isn’t open. Moreover, adjust each computer’s settings so it requires a password to start up or come out of sleep mode and require your staff to log out of their email accounts when they’re not at their workstations. This makes it more challenging for unauthorized users to gain access to your organization’s email accounts.
• Establish a security protocol for your staff’s devices if they use them to access their work email accounts: Just like with desktop computers, make sure all mobile devices require a password to get past the lock screen. In addition, adjust the settings on the devices so they can be locked remotely if they’re lost or stolen. This can go a long way in helping to keep cybercriminals out of your organization’s email.

Online Access

When it comes to how to secure email, online access is a major concern. After all, it’s often difficult to know your email has been compromised and a breach has occurred as a result — in which case it’s often too late to contain the damage. That’s why you need a robust security plan for your organization’s emails. Here’s what you need to know:

• Make sure SSL (Secure Socket Layer) is enabled on desktop and mobile devices: If you’re using webmail, make sure the URL begins with “https” instead of “http.” If this is the case, the browser is secure.
• Use encryption to send and receive emails: This means the email can only be read by the sender and recipient of the email. For other people viewing it, it will look like a scrambled message. Some email providers like Google automatically encrypt all messages, but with other services like Microsoft’s Outlook, you have to choose to encrypt messages in the Trust Center Settings. On a smartphone, you can do this in the phone’s settings.
• Educate your employees about best practices for email security: Require strong passwords that are changed on a regular basis. Employees should also know not to share their login credentials with others or keep them on a note by their computer. When you consider that one in every 131 emails now contains malware — malicious code that compromises your computer or device so hackers can gain access to your data — it’s clear that raising awareness about phishing and other tactics can greatly help in the effort to keep your email secure. Phishing is a cybercrime tactic that involves sending emails that look legitimate but contain links to malicious websites or attachments. If the user clicks the link or downloads the attachment, malware is installed on the computer or device and hackers can gain access. For this reason, teach your employees to never click on links or download attachments from untrusted sources.
• Use cloud faxing services to keep email attachments secure: A reliable cloud-based fax service such as ReplixFax from Softlinx offers a secure, encrypted and HIPAA-compliant way to send and receive sensitive data such as patient files and other information.

Email Security: An Ongoing Endeavor

Cybercriminals are becoming ever more sophisticated and they’re finding more and more ways to target health organizations of all sizes. For this reason, it’s critical that you stay abreast of developments in the cybersecurity space or work with service providers who can do this for you, so you can concentrate on your core business objectives.

Say “goodbye” to risky email attachments. To learn more about converting to HIPAA-compliant cloud-based fax services, fill out our contact form or call (800) 899-7724. Our experts are standing by to schedule a live demo and answer any questions you might have about how your organization can benefit from cloud-based fax services.

For companies providing their services to consumers, it has become a priority to ensure company operations are environmentally-friendly. In developed markets, sustainability is now a critical factor in shopper decisions, with one-third of consumers using it as a deciding factor. This shift also coincides with the maturity of millennials, with more than 65 percent willing to pay more for a product manufactured through sustainable, eco-friendly efforts.

In response to this market change, many companies are adopting eco-friendly business practices. Here are seven techniques they’re using to become a bit more sustainable.

1. Partner With Green Businesses

Companies with an established supply chain can assess and analyze their supply chain partners, such as manufacturers and distributors, to determine if their practices are green. A supply chain that uses recyclable and renewable materials, as well as minimal packaging with zero toxins, can often promote a clean supply chain or green procurement efforts to consumers.

This approach does pose a challenge, as it may require your company to form new business relationships and cease others. If you’re considering adopting this eco-friendly business practice, do not immediately switch all your processes to your new supplier, courier or manufacturer. Instead — if possible — taper your business off to ensure your new partner can meet your demands. It limits supply chain issues, such as those experienced by KFC and their new courier, DHL.

2. Use Green Web Hosting

The power demands of data centers in the U.S. are well-known. In 2014, they consumed enough power to match the energy usage of 6.4 million homes in the U.S. The improvements to server efficiency and power have lessened the growth rate of data center demands, while the popularity of green web hosting has provided companies with a viable way to make their business more eco-friendly.

A company that provides green web hosting operates on reusable energy. They also partake in additional carbon offset activities, such as planting trees or other vegetation on the facility’s property, utilizing energy-saving appliances and minimizing company waste. By focusing on a clean, eco-friendly operation, many of these hosting companies offer a lower rate for their services than non-green web hosting providers.

3. Optimize Energy Usage

Another productive way to make your business environmentally friendly is by assessing your energy usage and optimizing it. This area encompasses an expansive net, including the energy demands of your employee equipment, such as desktops, as well as heating, cooling, lighting and plumbing features. The assessment can also consider whether you’re purchasing renewable or non-renewable energy from your utility company.

To counter each of the above factors, you’ll rely on different approaches and technologies. The energy use of employee computers, for instance, can be resolved through company policies recommending the shutdown of non-essential equipment at the end of the day — or the installation of an automatic power shutdown system. For lighting and plumbing, your company can add energy-efficient LEDs and occupancy sensors, as well as low-flow toilets and low-flow faucets.

4. Initiate Recycling and E-Recycling Programs

Recycling is often a part of your employees’ personal lives, which is why many can quickly adapt to and support company recycling programs. A recycling program is one way to make your business more eco-friendly that also offers your organization the opportunity to apply for government grants. Since many companies use waste management providers, creating less waste can lead to a decreased fee.

In many instances, it’s difficult for consumers and businesses to recycle electronics due to their components. As a result, only 27 percent of the two million tons produced each year are recycled. Retailers and manufacturers, such as BestBuy, Dell, HP and Staples, will often accept electronics less than five years old for a store or tax credit, which allows your company to boost its green practices while saving money.

5. Go Paperless With the Cloud

Moving your company from pen-and-paper to digital documents offers more than financial savings, but also another option for how to make your business more eco-friendly. By adopting cloud computing, your organization can take advantage of cloud-based services from trusted third-party providers, such as for secure document delivery, faxing, network monitoring and more.

As well as decreasing your operating costs, investing in a paper-free operation provides a quick return on investment — in 84 percent of cases, companies received their payback in less than 18 months. A cloud-based service also benefits your employee productivity by streamlining document access and modification, plus supporting on-the-go communication among team members.

6. Carry Renewable Office Supplies

A significant factor in establishing eco-friendly business practices are your employees, who must adopt and support your efforts. That’s why they play an immense role in your use of renewable office supplies, which can include a variety of items, from pencils and pens to water bottles and single-use beverage pods. To support your renewable efforts, stock your shelves with post-consumer waste (PCW) products, such as paper towels and printing paper, and recyclable versions of single-use beverage pods.

Some companies will implement a team of green leaders to encourage employee participation. Their purpose is to promote cooperation, such as by initiating a recycling competition between departments, tracking the overall recycling savings and researching new ways to make your business green. While optional, it’s a route many businesses explore.

7. Audit Company Buildings for Energy Waste

On average, small- and medium-sized companies can save $165,000 through an energy audit. That’s why, if your company is searching for ways to make your business more eco-friendly, it’s recommended your facilities undergo an energy audit. With an experienced professional, your business can discover heating and cooling inefficiencies, as well as structural issues increasing your energy use and carbon footprint.

If you’re expanding your company by constructing a new office or facility, consider high-efficiency building construction. By investing in this type of architecture, your organization can promote your eco-friendly approach and reduce your overall operating costs, as high-efficiency building construction often lowers energy consumption by 80 to 90 percent.

Adopt Eco-Friendly Business Practices With Softlinx

With more than 20 years of experience and an established reputation for secure and compliant cloud-based solutions, Softlinx is the trusted partner for global organizations and world-class technology providers. Whether you’re a part of the healthcare, financial, education, manufacturing or insurance market, we can provide a secure and compliant cloud-based solution that matches your requirements.

Learn more about our secure cloud fax and document delivery services and 24/7 support by contacting us today.

For anyone professionally associated with the finance industry, the question, “Is cloud faxing secure enough for financial institutions?” is an extremely valid one. Naturally, today’s business headlines seem to be constantly filled with one nightmare scenario after another of a major financial institution or a member of their C-suite falling prey to malicious activities from hackers and malware. And of the stories that make it to the headlines, that list doesn’t even include the simple mishandling of sensitive data that can erupt into a costly non-compliance issue.

Securing Financial Data: Exploring the Viability of Cloud Faxing for Banks

What’s important to note when it comes to how to implement cloud faxing for banks and other financial institutions is, first and foremost, the cost of not doing so successfully. Let’s say your business still relies on traditional on-site fax machines. Many people outside the finance industry might not appreciate why such an old form of technology still manages to keep its foothold in your daily business proceedings. Yet anyone in banking will immediately understand how transferring documents such as those containing mortgage, stock, tax or licensure information needs to be handled in a secure manner — and despite its age, faxing is still considered to be a highly secure method of transmitting information.

Compliance and Security

To mishandle information of this importance is simply not an option, especially when failing to comply with industry standards such as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999 — or Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (GLBA) — can easily result in fines of $100,000 for each separate occurrence of a violation. With mandatory regulations like the GLBA, as well as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) affecting how banks, brokerage houses, car dealers, mortgage firms and other financial institutions do business, it’s no wonder why a more secure data transfer and management system than emailing or on-site faxing is so attractive to many organizations in the financial sector.

For this reason, it’s worth considering some of the best practices financial institutions such as banks can put in place to accomplish the proper handling of confidential information.

Cloud Faxing Best Practices for Banks and Financial Institutions

Whether it’s a bank transferring financially sensitive information to an overseas location or an automotive dealership sending a customer’s data to a lender, the following best practices eliminate many of the concerns, problems and costs associated with traditional fax machines and on-site fax servers:

Leverage Cloud-Based Fax Solutions to Win Consumers’ Trust

There’s probably nothing more important to a bank or financial institution than its reputation. And for that reputation to remain strong, the institution’s consumers must feel a high level of trust when it comes to how their information is handled. By highlighting that your financial institution uses a cloud faxing solution — like the one offered by Softlinx, where each transmission and receipt of sensitive data is encrypted, secure and reliable — you can inspire trust and attract more consumers.

Send Faxes Securely

What could be easier than sending an email with a document attached? But try that route with sensitive financial information and you risk a fine. However, instead of having to walk over to an office fax machine, scan and send a document, with secure cloud faxing services, you have the option of attaching a document to an email with the recipient’s information and then send it from wherever you are, so long as you have access to the internet. Once sent, both the email and attached information are fully encrypted. You still get all of the benefits of a fully compliant document transfer system, but with far more mobility and speed.

Receive Faxes Securely

For those in charge of document handling, one of the greatest challenges associated with receiving faxes is what to do with them once they’ve been received. In traditional faxing, this means keeping a close watch on where faxes come in and how they are subsequently handled. Plus, if a fax ever needs to be resent, someone has to watch over this process too. But once a company employs a cloud-based fax solution, all received faxes can remain safely in the cloud — encrypted and inaccessible to unauthorized users. And what’s really a major breakthrough in document management is that after an intended reader has reviewed a fax, the fax can then be stored indefinitely in the cloud for immediate retrieval whenever necessary. Of course, the cloud storage option need not be employed if a particular business’s security protocol doesn’t allow for remote data storage.

Establish Administrative Oversight

One of the best practices for any financial organization that wants to remain in compliance with document management standards is to institute robust administrative oversight over all document handling processes. In support of this practice, the ReplixDoc service Web portal from Softlinx gives a designated administrator the ability to monitor all document activities, set global options like message notifications and manage and update user account information.

Save Money With Modernization

Since, out of all businesses, financial institutions should practice enterprise-wide solid fiscal planning, the migration to cloud faxing makes for a smart business practice. You say “goodbye” to the costs associated with hardware, paper, ink and even dedicated phone lines. In the place of a costly capital-expenditure model, your company moves to a pay-as-you-go or subscription-based operating expenditure that requires less investment and offers far more flexibility and scalability, along with all of the security features previously mentioned.

What’s more, unlike on-site faxing that can result in paperwork being mishandled or machinery suffering from breakdowns, the dependability and scalability of a service like the one from Softlinx means you never miss a fax due to an empty ink cartridge or have to wait for an open phone line due to a busy signal. And if you experience a sudden surge in faxes, that’s not a problem for a scalable cloud-based solution.

Softlinx Offers Financial Institutions Best-in-Class Service and Maximum Uptime

Softlinx offers cloud-based faxing solutions and data management through fully secure data centers. In addition, with Softlinx you enjoy 99.9 percent uptime as stated in our service level agreement. To learn more about how cloud-based faxing service can benefit your financial institution, contact us or schedule a live demo. Or, if you prefer, call (800) 899-7724 to speak directly with a Softlinx representative.

With any major advancement in technology come several popular myths and misconceptions. For example, many people still believe the only way to judge a digital camera’s value is by how many megapixels it has. This myth results in many misled consumers purchasing a more expensive phone or camera simply based on a high pixel count. The truth, of course, is that an overabundance of pixels can result in images that are far too detailed, or noisy, for the simple purpose of posting everyday photos online.

Debunking Tech Myths: Megapixels Don’t Tell the Whole Story for Digital Cameras

There are other tech myths people still buy into as well. Some still believe the number of bars on their cell phones represents service speed. However, you could have full bars showing on your phone but be in an area like a sporting event where many others are on their phones, too. Despite having full bars displayed — which is a sign of signal strength, not service speed — you can experience slow service due to the congestion of localized phone users.

Other people misguidedly believe Apple-branded hardware is immune to malware. But don’t think because you’re reading this on a Mac that you never have to worry about viruses or malware. Typically, because cybercrime, including malware, looks to take advantage of the greatest number of targets, it focuses on the more common PC market, but that’s been proven to not always be the case. In fact, a growing number of malware samples targeting Macs is being developed.

The important lesson we can learn from all of this is it’s better to know the truth than believe in myths — and that all computers need good anti-malware protection.

Cloud Computing Myths Unveiled: Separating Fact from Fiction in the Business World

Of course, over the last few years, cloud computing — commonly referred to as “the cloud” — has taken the business world in particular by storm. In its report “Building Trust in a Cloudy Sky: The State of Cloud Adoption and Security,” Intel Security interviewed thousands of IT professionals and decision-makers and discovered that 90 percent are already using some form of cloud computing. Moreover, 73 percent of organizations surveyed reported they’re planning to fully move their computing needs to the cloud within the next two years.

But, as we’ve seen, with any tech advancement — especially one that has the potential to disrupt how business is conducted — there will be numerous myths floating around about its effectiveness, capabilities, cost and level of security, to name a few. In order to make sense out of this phenomenon, let’s examine and debunk some of the most common present-day myths that are frequently associated with the cloud.

1. The Cloud Is a Fad

Is the cloud going to last or is it some passing trend that will soon be replaced and forgotten? The myth that the cloud is just a passing fad is simply that — a myth. Understandably, because we all live in a world where smartphones and other devices become obsolete in our very hands, we can be tempted into thinking the cloud is just another example of tech obsolescence.

But here’s the truth: The cloud isn’t a device. It’s a method of conducting everything from remote computing to storage via the internet. Do you think the internet is a fad? And while we’re at it, how about the need for businesses to store data and quickly retrieve it? Because the cloud supports how business is conducted via a reliable network that we use more, not less, every day, don’t expect the cloud to do anything other than grow in popularity, importance and influence for years and decades to come.

2. The Cloud Is Unreliable

How can I trust something I can’t see? This question exposes a great deal about where myths surrounding the cloud come from. Incredibly, many of those who mistakenly believe the cloud can’t be as reliable as having localized computing hardware and storage are the same people who regularly use their smartphones to conduct remote banking, update their social media accounts and check on their doctors’ appointments and lab results. Of course, in all of these instances, people accessed and used the cloud via their smartphones. So the truth in the case of the cloud’s reliability is that it’s already a trusted technology for many banking, financial, insurance, educational and healthcare organizations.

What’s more, if you’ve ever been concerned with losing your business’s data, it’s important to note that quality cloud providers offer extremely reliable backup, storage and disaster recovery services, making the switch to cloud computing a much more reliable option than the localized computing route.

3. The Cloud Isn’t Compliant

Won’t the cloud affect my organization’s compliance? Is the cloud HIPAA-compliant? From healthcare to finance, many institutions are required by law to accept, store and share sensitive data in a highly secure fashion. Whether it’s handling protected health information (PHI) under HIPAA rules or protecting customers’ financial data under SOX and GLBA regulations, meeting your industry’s compliance standards is a crucial part of staying in business and earning your clients’ trust.

What’s so important to know about this myth is that the opposite is actually true. The cloud and many of the services associated with it, such as cloud-based faxing, actually include a very proactive approach to ensuring compliance standards are met as part of any service agreement. For this reason, Softlinx uses the Replix^® delivery platform to deliver a complete cloud-based faxing and document handling system that allows healthcare organizations, financial institutions, insurance companies and many other forms of business to remain fully compliant to their respective industry’s standards and regulations.

4. The Cloud Isn’t Secure

Is the cloud secure? Here, again, the truth is far from the myth. Since migration to the cloud began, the security of the cloud has proven to be far better than the vast majority of localized computing infrastructures. Cloud security is, after all, a big part of any cloud provider’s reputation. This means the large majority of cloud service providers will continually utilize the latest professional-level data encryption and security protocols to protect their business — and yours!

Softlinx Supplies Secure Cloud-Based Faxing

Now that you know the truth about the cloud, find out more about secure cloud-based faxing service. Contact us or schedule a live demo. You can also call (800) 899-7724 to speak directly with a Softlinx representative.

Surge in Hacking Incidents: Malware and Ransomware Breaches Double in 2017

The 2017 statistics regarding breaches of protected health information (PHI) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are in, and the story the numbers tell is sobering. In total, the year saw 477 breaches affecting nearly 5.6 million patient records. This means there was more than a breach per day for the entire year. And cybersecurity software firms predict that 2018 could very well see similar numbers — despite efforts to make healthcare institutions and their employees more aware of HIPAA data breach best practices.

Investigations into the breaches revealed that the single largest reported breach in 2017 was due to wrongdoing by an insider. In this instance, a hospital worker improperly accessed nearly 700,000 patients’ personal billing information. And when you combine insider wrongdoing with insider error, a total of 37 percent of the year’s breaches wind up being the responsibility of insiders.

But what far outweighs any breach statistics related to insiders is the news that reported incidents of hacking that involved malware and/or ransomware doubled from 30 instances in 2016 to 64 instances in 2017. And while some people argue that the numbers are misleading due to better reporting by health institutions, the risk remains very real.

HIPAA Data Breach Reporting Time Improves, but Fines Loom for Organizations Exceeding 60-Day Limit

Perhaps the statistic that pertains most to how to handle a HIPAA data breach is the fact that it took HIPAA-compliant organizations an average of 344 days to report a breach in 2016, while in 2017 that average dropped to 73 days. Of course, it’s good news that organizations are reporting data breaches more quickly to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Nevertheless, it needs to be noted that the average of 73 days is still beyond the 60-day limit for reporting large breaches, after which civil penalties and monetary fines can be levied.

As an aid to healthcare organizations, the HHS provides online HIPAA Basics For Providers: Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules. This contains clear explanations of the rules as well as good resources for further reading. But as a warning to organizations that might not take the rules seriously enough, it reports that when two HIPAA-covered organizations wrongly shared 6,800 personal health records online — including individuals’ medications and lab results — the organizations were fined $4.8 million and had to agree to take corrective plans of action. In addition, when a hospital worker pleaded guilty to attempting personal gain from illegally obtained PHI, that former worker faced a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

What to Do When HIPAA Data Has Been Compromised

Clearly, no institution wants to be faced with the question of how to handle a HIPAA data breach. But besides taking every precaution to avoid one in the first place, knowing what to do when HIPAA data has been breached can be one of the most important action plans an organization can put into place to guarantee its long-term survival and keep its patients’ trust through difficult times.

In the event that your organization believes its PHI may have been compromised, it’s advisable to take the following steps when recovering from a HIPAA hack and/or data breach:

Investigate

If you’re in the healthcare business, you don’t need to be reminded that every complaint needs to be taken seriously. And when it comes to a possible breach of patient data, you must conduct an investigation and risk assessment as soon as possible. The primary factors you need to determine have to do with the amount and type of information breached, the number of patients potentially affected, and whether the information was likely ever received and/or used by any outside parties. Each of these factors is important in determining whether a breach, and therefore a violation, under the HIPAA rules actually occurred. Be warned: Never take shortcuts or delay an investigation because the facts you’re uncovering are unpleasant.

Communicate

How and to whom you communicate a possible breach partially depends upon what your investigation uncovers. Of course, for a HIPAA breach of any size, you’re expected to inform all patients, employees and business partners directly affected. In addition, following HHS rules, if you have a breach that affects fewer than 500 individuals, you are expected to report the breach to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) “within 60 days of the end of the calendar year in which the breach was discovered.” If, however, your breach affects 500 or more individuals, you are expected to fill out an electronic report to the OCR “without unreasonable delay and in no case later than 60 calendar days from the discovery of the breach.” For breaches of this size, you’ll be asked to describe your damage control plans. Also, you’re required to report a large breach to the media, prior to which you are highly advised to retain the services of a PR firm. Just remember that crisis messaging does not equal crisis management — good communication is better than no communication!

Correct

Regardless of the size of the breach, your organization needs to conduct a review. This way, you can determine exactly where improvements can be made. In case of a large breach, the steps you take to correct breaches in the future will form an integral part of your report to the OCR. It should also be noted that the drive and timeliness with which you undertake this review can help mitigate potential fines and penalties. No matter how your breach occurred, you must institute a secure document management system.

Softlinx Helps Those Looking to Prevent a Future Data Breach

Remember: Moving forward from any data breach usually means establishing smarter document handling protocols. At the same time, any good data management system must also allow your business to grow and remain responsive to your clients’ needs. For these reasons, as well as for cost-efficiency, you may want to learn more about our HIPAA-compliant cloud faxing service. Simply contact us or schedule a live demo, or call (800) 899-7724 to speak with a Softlinx representative.

Healthcare organizations remain coveted targets for cybercriminals, who consider them veritable treasure troves of protected health information (PHI). Of course, PHI doesn’t just contain data about patients’ health records. It also contains names, addresses, insurance information and — most importantly — Social Security numbers. According to a study by Trend Micro, criminals who gain access to this data can use it in a wide range of ways, from obtaining drug prescriptions to committing tax fraud to even creating fake identities.

Because of this, it should be clear that hospitals, physicians’ offices and other healthcare organizations need to know how to keep business information safe on the web. It’s not just about the fines that await them if they fail to adhere to HIPAA regulations — it’s also about the fact that literally hundreds, if not thousands, of patients’ most sensitive data is on the line.

In order to remain HIPAA compliant and protect both your organization and your patients, it’s advisable to be informed about current online threats. Here are three of the top cyber-threats to healthcare organizations in 2018:

Crime-as-a-Service Will Expand

If you’ve heard of Software-as-a-Service — often referred to as SaaS — you probably have a good idea of what Crime-as-a-Service or CaaS is. It’s the online offering of advanced cybercrime tools by criminals to other criminals who then use them to exploit their targets.

Among the most popular tools are “phishing kits.” Phishing is the practice of hiding malicious links or code in emails or email attachments. When the email recipient clicks on the link or opens the attachment, a malicious script starts to run on the computer that transmits data to the criminals. This data is most often used to gain access to an organization’s network and, by extension, to its sensitive data.

For this reason, you’re best advised to educate yourself on how to prevent business hacking. In addition, it’s critical to communicate employee best practices for business data security to your staff — for example, by instructing them to never click on links or download attachments in emails from unknown sources. It’s also crucial to have a good security system in place that includes a robust firewall as well as anti-virus software and anti-malware.

Ransomware Will Target Cloud Providers as Well as Organizations

Ransomware is malware that encrypts a computer’s data and holds it for ransom. This can be crippling for businesses that haven’t backed up their data. It’s important to note that thanks to the increasing availability and sophistication of ransomware tools, they’re becoming more cost-effective for cybercriminals to purchase. Plus, it takes far less time to deploy them.

That’s why, in addition to large companies, smaller organizations are increasingly being targeted. In other words, smaller physicians’ offices and other healthcare facilities are not immune to these types of attacks. Again, a strong cybersecurity and anti-malware system should be your first line of defense against ransomware — plus, you need to securely back up all of your data.

And that’s where things get complicated, because cybercriminals are choosing more and more to target cloud providers — the very solution organizations choose as their primary backup method. By targeting cloud providers, cybercriminals can lock down the data of hundreds of organizations in a single blow — effectively paralyzing them until the ransom has been paid.

So when it comes to the question of how to keep businesses safe online, it means you need to select your cloud provider carefully. Keep in mind that giants such as Amazon, Google and IBM are likely to be less susceptible than smaller companies that can’t afford to hire the same top cybersecurity talent.

Cybercriminals Will Exploit the Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things — also referred to as IoT — is the network of “things” that are connected to the internet. These objects include physical devices such as smartphones and tablets as well as electronics embedded in appliances, clothes, cars, machinery and equipment.

In healthcare, the IoT is used for a wide range of things. For example, a heart patient might use a wearable device that tracks heart rate and sends this data to a databank where it can be accessed by the patient’s physician. The physician can then track the patient’s progress remotely and determine whether any additional treatment is necessary. At the same time, the IoT can even be used in operating theaters, both to provide data relevant to the care episode and secure a better outcome for the patient, as well as to control the operating theater’s environment.

Unfortunately, despite the vast possibilities presented by the IoT, it’s also a vulnerability. With such a wide range of devices being connected, there are numerous potential entry points to an organization’s network — and once cybercriminals gain access, they can mine the system for the sensitive data they want. To protect your organization against this type of cybercrime, make sure you have a robust security system that provides adequate protection for all endpoints. In addition, it’s always advisable to protect sensitive files with two-step authentication so only authorized users can access them.

Cloud Faxing Can Help Protect Your Organization’s Data

By now, it should be clear that keeping your organization’s and your patients’ sensitive data safe online requires constant vigilance and top-notch security measures. And when it comes to transmitting data, it’s important to note that cloud faxing is an outstanding way to securely transmit business data. This makes it preferable to other methods, such as email and file sharing. For example, ReplixFax from Softlinx encrypts all documents and transfers them via a secure cloud in a HIPAA-compliant manner. This minimizes the risk of any hackers or other cyber-criminals gaining access to it and protects your data so you can concentrate on your core business.

To learn more about how our HIPAA fax service can help your organization protect its data, contact us or schedule a live demo. You can also call (800) 899-7724 to speak to an expert and get answers to all of your questions and concerns.

The cloud — or cloud computing — is a hot topic that seems to be on every IT and business manager’s mind these days. Of course, even if you just use your smartphone to do some online banking or update your social media profile, you’re already making use of cloud computing’s many capabilities. At its most basic, the use of the cloud involves the act of computing over the internet by accessing a remote network of servers. The opposite of this occurs when you store or access data locally on your computer’s hard drive, external drive or on an on-site server.

The Future of Cloud Migration

Now, when you stop to think of how much data an average business generates and needs constant access to in order to operate, you begin to realize what an economically sensible solution moving to the cloud can be. To back up this claim, a report from Intel Security — “Building Trust in a Cloud Sky: The State of Cloud Adoption and Security” — found some remarkable business trends concerning migration to the cloud.

The Intel report looked at thousands of IT professionals and decision-makers and found that 90 percent of respondents were already using some form of cloud computing. And what’s really telling is that IT departments reported that within the next 15 months, 80 percent of all IT budgets will have some form of commitment to a cloud solution. In addition, 73 percent of businesses have plans to fully move their computing needs to the cloud over the next two years.

Custom Cloud Solutions

Naturally, all businesses are not created equal, so there’s no one-size-fits-all cloud solution. As matter of fact, with both public and private clouds available, many businesses are struggling to find the right remote computing solution — which might be why hybrid cloud adoption saw a threefold increase in 2017.

But regardless of which cloud strategy is right for your business, there are some key benefits of moving your business’s computing needs to the cloud. Read on to see why the cloud service model is fast becoming a key ingredient in so many business plans.

Prime Reasons for Cloud Migration

Whether your organization is just now considering its first migration to cloud computing or you’re an IT professional looking to consolidate all of your organization’s operations in the cloud, the following benefits show how the move could make good business sense:

Flexibility

Due to hiring spikes and new product launches, businesses can experience growth spurts that put a great deal of stress on their IT infrastructure. And without extra computing bandwidth, some companies can wind up losing business in these situations. Of course, this doesn’t have to be the case. With any good cloud service model comes the ability to quickly scale up — or down — your computing capacity via remote servers. In addition to scalability, the cloud also allows remote access and provides mobility options, which offers businesses with virtual workers and multiple locations significant convenience.

Disaster Recovery

For any number of reasons, having a robust disaster recovery system in place for a company with on-site servers might be financially impractical or even impossible. But when you consider the potential damage to your business if you lose access to your data — even temporarily — you can’t allow that risk to continue. This is why the ease of setting up a full disaster recovery system through a cloud-based service makes migration to the cloud so popular for businesses. Without large investments of time or capital, when you move your computing to the cloud, you can safely go about your business with the knowledge that if disaster strikes, your data is fully protected.

Security

From stopping hackers and malware to correcting employee mistakes and missed software updates, strong cybersecurity has never been so important to your organization’s well-being. However, when your computing is conducted remotely, there are a number of security benefits.

First, a good cloud-based service means the responsibility of software updates is taken care of automatically by your cloud supplier, allowing you to focus on the tasks related to your core business needs. And in the unfortunate event that an employee loses a piece of equipment with sensitive data on it, such as a laptop, you can both protect your data because it’s in the cloud and remotely wipe the lost laptop’s stored data so the device is useless to anyone who finds it.

Data Transmission

Cloud-based data transmission is another aspect of cloud services that businesses find highly rewarding. In many industries, there’s a constant need to transmit data in a safe and reliable fashion. Think of HIPAA compliance with regard to electronic health records for healthcare organizations or security organization controls for financial institutions, and you can see why faxing has remained a steadfast method of data transmission.

Now, with cloud faxing capabilities like the service supplied by Softlinx, all document transmissions and receipts can now occur via the cloud. From hospitals and insurance carriers to educational and governmental institutions, the reliability and ease of document control is a major reason for migrating computing, as well as faxing procedures, to secure online solutions.

Cost

While the move to cloud-based services has many operational benefits, it’s hard to overlook its cost efficiency, especially if your company is experiencing sudden growth. The reason for this is a simple business model shift. When you purchase and maintain IT infrastructure on-site, a large upfront investment is required — plus, you need to keep acquiring and maintaining hardware and software over time.

However, when you migrate your computing needs to the cloud, the cost becomes an operating expenditure with the added benefit of its being a pay-as-you-go or subscription-based model. And that means it requires a far smaller investment to get the full benefits cloud computing offers.

Softlinx for the Advantages of Cloud-Based Faxing

To learn more about cost-effective, secure HIPAA fax service, contact us or schedule a live demo. Or, if you prefer, call (800) 899-7724 for answers to all of your questions.

Advancements in technology are having a major impact on every aspect of our daily lives, from how we communicate to how we work, exercise and relax. So it’s no surprise that the healthcare industry is poised to take advantage of certain technological breakthroughs in a very big way.

Of course, if you’re directly involved in providing healthcare, or if you manage a facility or service related to health and wellness, the adoption of these new technologies couldn’t come at a better time. The American Medical Association reports that, while U.S. health spending rose 4.3 percent to $3.3 trillion in 2016 — or in excess of $10,000 per person — that growth rate was down from the 5.8 percent increase seen in 2015. And the trend to slow, or at least rein in, healthcare spending looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.

What this means is that while patients’ expectations are growing, healthcare spending is slowing down. And nowhere is this fact felt more than through the slowing of spending related to physician services. Over the ten-year period from 2006 to 2016, this spend has only seen an annual growth rate of 3.8 percent — and that represents a lower increase than other large categories associated with health, such as hospital care at 5.2 percent or clinical services at 6.5 percent.

This is why healthcare technology trends specifically designed for professionals looking to make healthcare practices more efficient are welcome additions if you’re facing the simultaneous challenges of managing costs while increasing the quality of care you provide to your patients.

Best Technology for Healthcare Businesses

If you’re deciding how to use technology to improve healthcare, the following list of top trends meet the double criteria of having the potential to increase the level of care provided and helping to control costs. Read on to see how the future of healthcare is likely to be positively affected by each of these promising technological advancements.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) — often referred to as “machine learning” — is finally turning the corner from being a distant idea to becoming a powerful everyday tool. Since it’s particularly useful for repetitive tasks and data processing, it can assist in a wide range of functions, from insurance claim processing to diagnostics such as cancer screening. In addition, while voice-activated assistants like Alexa and Siri are changing people’s personal lives, AI-powered chat bots are pushing the boundaries of conversational applications in the health industry. Now, within a few minutes of speaking with a chat bot, it can serve as a medical intermediary ready to monitor a patient’s condition and, if necessary, make an appointment.

Blockchain

Forget its association with digital currencies for a moment and think instead of blockchain as a new way of securely sharing vast amounts of sensitive health data. Granted, there are plenty of skeptics when it comes to employing the power of what amounts to a digital ledger for the purposes of the healthcare industry. But when you stop to consider that Microsoft, Google, IBM and Intel all have departments dedicated to the development of products using blockchain technology — including applications associated with healthcare — then you have to take it seriously.

In addition, it’s hard not to acknowledge its growing importance after the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology encouraged IT developers to explore healthcare-related uses of the blockchain. Nevertheless, before it can be used as a data transmission method, it will need to be cleared as HIPAA-compliant.

Cloud Faxing

While some technology trends may still seem like far-off predictions, others are already here, in use, and making a big impact on healthcare professionals and practices. Nowhere has the challenge to make healthcare data more secure been met with more positive and cost-effective results than with HIPAA-compliant cloud faxing services. Saying “goodbye” to the costs and complications associated with traditional fax machines and on-site fax servers is now a reality for numerous hospitals, clinics and private practices.

With reliable cloud-based fax services like those supplied by Softlinx using the ReplixFax delivery platform, your transmission and receipt of electronic protected health information (ePHI), including electronic health records (EHR), practice management (PM) documents and radiology information systems (RIS) are secure, encrypted and fully HIPAA-compliant.

Increased Security

While technology has advanced, so too have the threats associated with it — in fact, data breaches currently cost the healthcare industry $6 billion each year. Unfortunately, the nightmare of a healthcare organization falling prey to cybercrime and ransomware and having to pay thousands of dollars to regain access to its sensitive data remains an all-too-real scenario. And when you realize that ransomware alone is a multi-million-dollar industry for cybercriminals, it’s not surprising that the need for robust online security for healthcare companies has never been greater.

For this reason, expect to see everything from the addition of two-step authentication for online patient information portals to increased cybersecurity training for healthcare professionals to stronger cybersecurity systems.

Wearable Technology

More than helping you count calories at the gym or track cycling speeds on the road, wearable technology is about to vastly improve how health information is collected and shared with healthcare providers. Thanks to advancements in wearable technology, diabetics will be able to enjoy far more comfortable and accurate glucose monitoring. People who have difficulty sleeping will be able to monitor their resting state to help determine if they’re suffering from sleep apnea or some other respiratory condition. And heart patients will be able to send data about their heart rate right to their physician, who can analyze it and determine if any additional action is required.

To get an idea of how widespread this trend is set to be, consider this: The International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that more than 200 billion wearable tech devices will be in use by 2020!

Softlinx Leads Reliable Healthcare Tech Trends

To learn more about converting to cloud-based HIPAA fax services, contact us. We can schedule a live demo and answer any questions you might have. Call (800) 899-7724 today!

Since 1964, when Xerox introduced what is generally considered the first fax machine, the ability to securely transmit information over any distance via a phone line has grown continuously. Today, it’s a staple technology of many businesses and industries. And while other forms of technology have come and gone, the fax hasn’t just remained in use — it’s actually risen in popularity.

In fact, the International Data Group (IDC) recently published a paper — “Fax Market Pulse: Trends, Growth and Opportunities” — that showed commercial fax usage was up by 27 percent. What’s more, over the next two years, fax usage is predicted to grow by another 25 percent.

The Shift to Cloud Faxing

There are several reasons for the popularity of faxing. One of the most important is its ability to hold up under legal scrutiny by providing a verifiable log. Another is its compliance with several important standards, which enables it to provide healthcare facilities and professionals with a HIPPA-compliant form of transferring information.

But what’s most exciting for businesses and their IT departments is that, while faxing is growing in popularity, it’s also undergoing a technological transformation that promises to send business documents faster. And this is where the inherent efficiency of cloud faxing comes into play.

Of all the statistics in the IDC report, none are more telling than the fact that 90 percent of fax users are currently evaluating or already in the process of integrating their method of faxing with newer forms of technology and business applications. And with this fact, the IDC concludes that over the next two years, businesses will overwhelmingly begin shifting their current method of faxing to cloud faxing services.

How to Make Your Business More Productive

Naturally, if you’re still using traditional on-site faxing equipment and services, it’s logical to ask, “Is cloud faxing more efficient?” before making any changes. So to help clarify how cloud faxing can help make your company more productive, let’s take a look at some of the primary areas where you can increase your productivity levels by making use of this new technology:

Freedom

If you’ve ever had to rely on traditional faxing, you’re well aware of the time and hassle involved if there’s a problem with the paper, ink or actual fax machine. And let’s be honest: does a fax machine ever choose a good time to run out of ink or break down?

Imagine instead, with cloud faxing, that you can enjoy all the benefits of sending and receiving documents securely — but without ever having to refill paper or ink. You can even forget about having to keep a fax machine repair company on speed dial and you can say goodbye to an extra phone line. Along with time saved, therefore, comes cost savings, and when you put those together, your business is able to do more with less effort, making for a more productive and economical workflow.

Mobility

Once you switch to a cloud-based faxing service, your employees can send and receive faxes anywhere with an internet connection. This mobility results in substantial productivity gains. Now, instead of having to travel to an office with a fax machine to send or receive faxes, anyone from a healthcare professional on rounds to a project manager on the manufacturing floor can quickly and efficiently make use of the virtual fax process, known as FoIP — or Fax over Internet Protocol.

Plus, along with mobility, you enjoy the added efficiency of never again having to wait by a fax machine for a busy signal to end.

Reliability

As we all know, traditional fax machines and on-site fax servers can break down. Additionally, if your fax equipment is on-site and your business experiences a power outage, you can’t send or receive any faxes until power is restored and your machines are up and running. However, with robust redundancy systems like those built into the ReplixFax cloud fax service from Softlinx, you experience near 100 percent uptime. This means that by choosing an experienced cloud fax service provider like Softlinx, you never have to worry about missing a fax or not being able to send a fax due to equipment malfunctions or power interruptions at your business’s location.

Security

If, in an effort to be more productive, an employee transmits information in an unsecured fashion or mishandles it once it’s in hardcopy, the results could be devastating — especially if your business handles sensitive data or needs to adhere to certain regulations such as HIPAA. Yet, 46% of businesses report that their overall fax usage is on the increase and shows no signs of slowing down. Clearly, discussing business productivity independent of security would be a serious oversight.

If you’re using a cloud faxing service that incorporates encrypted transmissions and secure servers, compliance and security go hand-in-hand with efficiency. With this method, a fax is secure regardless of whether it’s transmitting or waiting to be read. Moreover, since fax usage is likely to continue to rise, having a system in place that supports your compliance regulations means increased productivity can occur without you ever having to worry about data leakage due to improper faxing methods.

Simplicity

As we’ve seen with just about every technological breakthrough, productivity increases when the system in question is simple and easy to use. And nowhere is this more relevant than in faxing and document handling. With online faxing service, creating and sending a fax is as easy as attaching a document to an email — except now you don’t have to worry about exceeding attachment limitations due to large file sizes. And with Softlinx, you have the choice of using a business application, web portal, email, Windows desktop print-to-fax or multi-function printer (MFP) to send faxes securely online. With both choice and simplicity on your side, your business’s productivity never gets put on hold due to documentation lag time.

Softlinx for Increased Business Productivity

To join the many businesses making the switch to reliable HIPAA fax services, contact us. We’d be happy to schedule a live demo and answer any questions you might have. Call (800) 899-7724 today!