A prominent Charlotte, NC medical services firm recently reported a week-long data breach in which patient information was stolen. Charlotte Radiology officials revealed that an unauthorized party gained access to their network and took copies of some documents. These documents included patients’ name, address, date of birth, health insurance information, medical record number, patient account number, physician name, diagnosis and treatment information, as well as a limited number of Social Security numbers.

While the medical practice has established a dedicated call center to answer questions about the incident, and offered free credit monitoring for those whose Social Security numbers were exposed, they are still at substantial risk for lawsuits relating to damages from failing to implement systems to protect patient data.

Cybersecurity threats like this one are running at all-time highs, with Russian hacking escalating, and your dental practice falls into two groups that are especially vulnerable: healthcare and...