CDA Essentials 2018 • Volume 5 • Issue 3

25 Issue 3 | 2018 | There is an old adage that states, "crime doesn’t pay." But unfortunately, information technology (IT) security professionals across the globe under- stand that this saying no longer holds true. T his year, cybercrime is projected to cost nearly $600 billion worldwide, climbing steadily from $445 billion three years ago. Cybercrime is on the rise and it is expected that by 2021, the proceeds of cybercrime will generate more money than the global trade of all illicit drugs. Cybercrime defined Cybercrime is any criminal activity in which a computer (or networked device) is targeted and/or used. Some cybercrime directly attacks a computer or device in order to damage or disable it. Others make use of a computer to steal information, spread a virus or malware, illegal information, images or other materials. Cybercrimes often do both, targeting a computer to infect it with a virus or malware which is then spread to other computers. There are many variants of cybercrime that can have devasting effects on the computers in your dental office. Cybercrime at your practice Ask yourself these questions: how would your office respond to the sudden disappearance of patient records? What if your networked radiograph machine was down for a week? Even worse, what would happen if a breach exposed your patient records online? These are just a few examples of the potential impact of cybercrime within a dental practice. Cybercrime is often automated and spreads across the Internet in different ways. This means that a group of attackers isn’t specifically targeting your practice, but your office could be hit simply because it's connected to the Internet. in the Dental Office Cybersecurity Dean Smith is CDA’s manager of information technology.