Email is more important in healthcare than many think. Doctors often use it to coordinate care and handle paperwork, and patients use it to be in touch with their doctors. As useful as email may be, it may, however, be equally dangerous. Who would want their medical data to be accessed by those with malicious intent? Most often, people wouldn’t want even their close relatives to know everything about their physical and mental health.
The sensitivity of this data is what makes it so important to protect healthcare-related emails. Email authentication protocols like DMARC can help protect sensitive patient data and keep both your organization and clients away from viruses… not the medical, but the digital ones!
"In an era where personal data is as critical as physical health, the digital integrity of healthcare communication is paramount. DMARC isn't just about technical compliance; it's about safeguarding patient trust, which is the very foundation of care."
— Maitham Al Lawati
But before we dive in, you can analyze domain health with a free domain checker to ensure one of your most important patients (i.e., your email) isn’t ill.
Key takeaways:
Around 90% of healthcare organizations witnessed at least one data breach in the preceding two years.
Email fraud in healthcare doesn’t just cause financial or reputational damage; it puts human lives at risk.
DMARC benefits include phishing protection, enhanced compliance, reduced spam, and more secure healthcare.
You can implement DMARC manually by yourself or through a trusted DMARC service provider.
Old technologies, complex subdomains, and a lack of technical knowledge make manual DMARC implementation more challenging for the healthcare sector in particular.
Email Fraud Dangers in Healthcare
Here are some common consequences of email fraud in healthcare.
Many Types of Financial Losses
Email fraud can bring about numerous financial losses. The costs may be both direct and indirect, both short-term and long-term, and quickly accumulate. They may include:
Forensic Investigations
IT Remediation
Legal Fees
Public Relations Efforts
Patient Notifications
Credit Monitoring
And more
A small email scam may eventually cost a huge fortune.
Eroded Trust and Eroded Lives
Insurance companies, NGOs, doctors, patients, and all other stakeholders might feel hesitant to deal with a clinic or hospital associated with email fraud. For some, medical data includes the darkest aspects of their lives, things they wouldn’t want anyone to find out. An email fraud can expose everything, putting people’s lives at risk.
What makes things worse and more alarming is that, within the past two years, nearly 90% of healthcare organizations globally witnessed at least one data breach. To be in the remaining 10%, DMARC is quite important.
Penalties and Fines
Healthcare is highly regulated for data protection. Any violation can trigger steep fines: up to $1.5 million per year for each HIPAA violation category, similar penalties under the HITECH Act, additional state fines, and possible FTC action for inadequate consumer data protection. If you’re a small healthcare provider, such fines may be a real disaster for you and your team. When you set up DMARC, you can easily avoid such disasters.
Why Is DMARC So Important in Healthcare Email Security
In healthcare, using DMARC is like operating a secure facility where all the personnel’s credentials are carefully verified before they’re allowed in, instead of leaving your clinic open for anyone to walk in and claim to be a doctor.
Here’s how DMARC works to enhance your healthcare email security:
Building on SPF and DKIM
DMARC works alongside SPF and DKIM, giving your email domain three layers of protection.
Protecting from Impersonation
DMARC blocks phishing emails that try to look like they’re from your organization. Only approved senders can use your domain, making it very hard for scammers to pretend to be you.
Comprehensive Reporting
DMARC not only protects your emails but also gives you clear reports about who’s sending emails from your domain and alerts you to any suspicious activity.
Adapting Regardless of Complexity
Healthcare organizations often have complicated email systems with different departments and outside partners. DMARC is adaptable, so it can secure even the most complex setups without getting in the way.
DMARC Benefits
Just one leaked patient record can ruin your hospital and your patient’s entire life. This alone is enough to implement DMARC without questioning any other benefits. However, we still wanted to provide you with more details about what you’re getting when implementing DMARC.
Phishing Prevention
Healthcare faces more phishing attacks than any other industry. DMARC acts as your frontline protection and makes it much harder for phishing scams to succeed.
Compliance Requirements
Starting in 2024, Google and Yahoo require organizations that send more than 5,000 emails a day to have DMARC set up. If you send this many emails, you need to implement DMARC as soon as possible. This will help you avoid the spam folder and get your messages to where they need to be.
DMARC helps block unauthorized access to Protected Health Information (PHI) sent by email. This is an important part of the HIPAA Security Rule, so getting DMARC makes compliance much easier.
Enhanced Business Image
Word of mouth and overall reputation are extremely important in healthcare. They help determine whether a patient will choose your clinic or a competitor’s. DMARC helps establish and maintain a good reputation, which can help you boost the number of your patients and their trust.
Less Spam
With DMARC, your messages are more likely to reach the primary inbox instead of the spam folder. This will ensure your time-sensitive emails reach your colleagues and clients.
DMARC Implementation Steps
Here is a quick DMARC implementation steps checklist you can follow as you move toward enforcement.
Review your existing email setup.
Set up SPF.
Set up DKIM.
Create and publish a DMARC record.
Continuously monitor your domain’s email activity.
Address any authentication issues that arise.
Gradually tighten your DMARC policy (p=none => p=quarantine => p=reject).
Apply DMARC to all subdomains.
Maintain ongoing monitoring and support.
Provide staff training and update your procedures as needed.
You may choose to follow these steps manually by yourself or use professional hosted DMARC services by companies like DMARC. Such services take care of all the steps of the process to ensure maximum effectiveness and minimum likelihood of errors.
Healthcare-Sector-Specific Challenges of Implementing DMARC
While setting DMARC is very important, it may also be challenging. Here are some of the most common challenges
1. Outdated Systems
Many hospitals from all over the world are still using old systems and technologies. Integrating DMARC is intrinsically hard for non-technical users, and it becomes even harder if your systems are not compatible with modern email authentication mechanisms.
You should try incorporating newer technologies, but in the meantime, you can ask for help from reputed DMARC service providers. They know how to deal with such situations and will provide you with the necessary guidance.
2. Lack of Knowledge, Money, and Time
Healthcare providers aren’t supposed to be proficient at DMARC. The lack of knowledge and skills in cybersecurity may push them away from the idea of implementing DMARC. The lack of money and time adds to this, making DMARC implementation a real challenge. Working with a trusted provider can help save both money and time, while also filling in the knowledge gaps.
3. Complex Subdomains
Many healthcare organizations often have to deal with several subdomains. If this is the case in your organization, you should first identify all your subdomains. Then, start implementing DMARC for all the subdomains. The subdomains that particularly deal with sensitive information should be your priority, but this doesn’t mean that other subdomains don’t need DMARC.
4. Third-Party Services
Healthcare organizations often trust third-party services to send emails on their behalf. Not all of these partners always comply with DMARC policy. This can put your organization, patients, staff, and many other key stakeholders at high risk. Therefore, you should always clearly communicate with third-party services before you start your collaboration with them.
Summing Up
Implementing DMARC in healthcare is both important and challenging. Outdated systems still in use in hospitals, multiple subdomains, and a lack of technical knowledge make it challenging to effectively set up DMARC in healthcare. However, numerous DMARC service providers can help make the process faster and easier for healthcare organizations. Regardless of the challenges and expenses of implementing DMARC, the benefits far outweigh the costs.
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