This Is the Year to Prioritize Security

If 2026 is the year of AI, then also expect it to also be the year the industry places a higher emphasis on information security. Regardless of size, practices will need to be more serious about security and compliance to succeed. 

“It’s not just large DSOs being hit by cyberattacks. We see single-practice dental offices attacked weekly because they lack the security measures of the bigger organizations. It’s not an insignificant impact either. Claims that were in the low six figures in the past few years are now in the million-dollar range for a single-practice breach.” 

-- Carrie Millar, Vice President of Business Development, Dentist Insurance Services 

Protect your practice 

Conduct a risk assessment: An annual security audit can help you identify vulnerabilities in your practice’s IT infrastructure and software. From the audit, you can develop a plan to bolster your cybersecurity. 

Partner with IT specialists: If you don’t have the knowledge base in-house, hire an IT provider that specializes in dental cybersecurity to help you plan and implement security measures. 

Create an incident response plan: If a breach happens, it’s critical to have a plan in place to quickly address the breach and meet HIPAA reporting requirements. It’s also a good idea to consider adding a cybersecurity insurance policy. Your plan needs to include (among other things): 

• Who you’re going to call 

• Where you’re storing data backups 

• Where you’re getting new machines 

• Who’s going to help you recover your practice data 

Vet your partners: With new AI tools coming to market, it’s critical that the companies you choose are an approved partner of your PMS vendor. Go to your PMS vendor’s website, and find their list of approved partners. All reputable PMS vendors have this, and you need to make sure any vendor you’re considering is listed on this website. If they’re not, their unauthorized access will consistently put your data at risk. 

Train your teams. This one seems really obvious, but it also tends to be one of the most neglected. It’s amazing how frequently — even with training — people click on links and attachments they shouldn’t. In fact, it’s the primary cause of malware infections. The best thing you can do is train your staff and make sure they’re aware of what they need to look out for. 

Protect your sensitive information. You should always be guarded about sensitive information. There should only be a few people who have access to administrative passwords. Documents with personal identifiable information, health information, or employee data should never be left out where people can see it. It’s amazing how frequently that happens, and it’s an extremely common attack vector that nefarious actors use. 

“You’ve got to lock down and secure your code and figure out how to securely allow access to APIs.”

-- Kyle Surratt, Chief Business Officer, The Jetty Group. 

Key cybersecurity measures you should strongly consider 

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA): If you don’t have it yet, add MFA to access your PMS and email.  

• Data encryption: Encrypt your patient data, both stored and if it’s sent elsewhere (cloud backups, for instance).  

• Network separation: If you offer guest Wi-Fi, create a separate network and isolate it from your office network to keep malware from moving across networks. 

• Secure backups: Automated, encrypted daily backups are essential to securing your data. If you store data on local servers, you should also have at least one backup stored off-site or in the cloud. 

• Security updates: Developers and manufacturers regularly release security updates or patches. Make sure you update your software, operating systems, and hardware to fix vulnerabilities. In many cases, these updates can be automated. 

• Endpoint detection & response (EDR): Replace traditional antivirus with advanced monitoring tools to detect, block, and respond to threats in real-time.  

Compliance has always been a critical issue. But with more tools coming online and more demand for interoperability among practices, partners, and patients, the need for robust cybersecurity has never been greater.  

Having the right partners providing your practice management solutions and cybersecurity protocols is essential to protecting your practice and patient data in 2026. 

Learn more about the trends that will define this year in the 2026 Trends Outlook, and check out next week’s blog for more tips.