Learn Our Lingo (LOL): Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, so Headlines is devoting the latest edition of Learn Our Lingo to terms and phrases centered around cybersecurity in health care!

From HIPAA to HI-TECH, there are a number of acronyms or phrases that you may hear frequently, but not know much about.

Here’s a closer look at terminology that will make you more “secure” in your knowledge of health care technology!

• Anti-Virus: Ok, this may not be an acronym, but anti-virus software is an essential first line of defense when it comes to cybersecurity. It is designed to prevent infection by computer viruses — which can be used to illegally access important information and organizational data.

• HIPAA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. A wide-ranging piece of legislation, part of which is designed to protect the privacy and the security of individually identifiable health information.

• HI-TECH: The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. This act, passed in 2009, contains specific incentives for providers to accelerate the adoption of the electronic health record (EHR). It also widens the scope of privacy and security protections available under HIPAA.

• HITS: Health Information Technology & Services. The department at Michigan Medicine committed to providing comprehensive, flexible information technology and services capable of supporting current and emerging needs across the organization.

• Malware: Malicious-software. Malware is any program or file that is harmful to a computer user. Malware includes viruses, worms, Trojan horses and spyware. These programs can perform a variety of functions, including stealing, encrypting or deleting sensitive data, altering or hijacking core computing functions and monitoring users’ computer activity without their permission.

• MI-HSOC: Michigan Healthcare Security Operations Center. A brand-new facility that brings together highly-skilled teams from Michigan Medicine, Beaumont Health, Munson Healthcare and the Michigan Hospital Association. The group leverages shared technologies, processes and skills to prevent, detect, analyze and respond to cybersecurity events. Learn more by clicking here.

For a look at even more technical jargon, click here.

Got everything? Great! You’re better prepared to avoid getting tangled in a “web” of confusion!

Are there other acronyms you’ve always wondered about? Let us know and they could be featured in the next LOL!

For a complete list of past acronyms highlighted in Headlines, click here