Medical Clinics & Healthcare Practices

Patient records and booking systems
your practice can't run without.

One compromised staff account — a booking login, a billing portal, a shared inbox — can expose hundreds of patient records and trigger a mandatory PIPEDA breach report. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner will want to know what controls were in place. Patient trust takes years to build and one incident to lose.

Insurance renewal coming up? Moving to a new EMR? Start with the free 3-minute check.

Check Your Exposure — Free, 3 Minutes Talk to a Security Advisor

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What actually happens

Most healthcare breaches don't start with a sophisticated attack.
They start with a shared password.

A front-desk or billing account gets compromised.

A receptionist reuses a password from a personal account that appeared in a breach. The attacker logs into the clinic's email or booking system — and the clinic has no way to know. No alert fires. No one notices.

Patient records and appointment data become accessible.

From a single staff inbox, an attacker can often reach appointment history, insurance details, health card numbers, and patient-identifying information. Healthcare records are sold for significantly more than financial credentials.

The breach surfaces weeks or months later.

A patient reports a suspicious contact. A staff member notices unusual login activity. A third-party security alert arrives. By then, the exposure window has been open for weeks — and PIPEDA requires you to report based on when the breach occurred, not when you discovered it.

The mandatory breach report is the beginning, not the end.

PIPEDA requires you to notify affected patients and report to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Your insurer will also want a post-incident account of what controls were in place beforehand — and "none documented" is a very expensive answer.

What we review

We review your clinic's exposure — without touching patient files.

We don't require access to your EMR, clinical records, or OHIP billing data. We review the accounts, email configuration, and external footprint that determine whether an attacker could get in — and give you a written report you can act on.

Staff credential exposure check

We check whether staff email addresses — reception, billing, nursing, admin — have appeared in known data breaches. A single compromised account is enough to access booking records, patient correspondence, and insurance information.

Email spoofing and impersonation review

We verify whether your clinic's domain can be spoofed, meaning an attacker could send messages that appear to come from your practice. Fake appointment confirmations and phishing emails that impersonate healthcare providers are well-documented.

Booking and portal security review

We assess the access controls around your appointment system, patient portal, and any third-party platforms your clinic uses — including whether inactive accounts exist and whether MFA is enforced.

Cloud account access audit

We review your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace configuration — shared inboxes, admin access, and login activity — and flag anything that represents an elevated risk to patient information.

External exposure mapping

We document what an attacker can see about your clinic from the outside — domains, services, publicly exposed systems — and assess whether any of it could be used to target your staff or patients.

PIPEDA breach-readiness documentation

The report documents what controls were in place at the time of the assessment. In the event of an incident, this is the written record you need — for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and for your insurer.

Common triggers

Most clinics come to us for one of these reasons.

Professional liability or cyber insurance renewal

Insurers underwriting healthcare practices increasingly ask about MFA enforcement, email security, and documented security reviews. A verified assessment gives you specific, written answers.

Staff turnover — especially front desk or billing

Administrative staff have broad access to booking systems, patient records, and correspondence. Every departure is a live credential risk if accounts aren't properly offboarded. Most aren't.

Moving to a new EMR or cloud platform

Migrations introduce a window where access controls are often misconfigured — accounts created before the old ones are closed, permissions set too broadly, MFA not yet enforced on the new system.

Receiving a PIPEDA compliance question from a partner or insurer

If a hospital, specialist, or insurance partner has asked about your security controls, the answer they want is a documented assessment — not a verbal assurance.

PIPEDA compliance note

Healthcare practices that collect patient health information are subject to PIPEDA (and provincial equivalents). A breach that "poses a real risk of significant harm" requires mandatory notification to the OPC and to affected patients. A documented security review is not a compliance requirement — but it is the standard of care that regulators and insurers will ask about if something goes wrong.

Where to start

Choose how deep to go.

Start free. The self-assessment shows you where your clinic is weakest. The paid options give you a verified, documented picture you can share with your insurer or present to the OPC if needed.

Free

Self-Assessment

3-minute quiz — see your weakest areas and get a score. No email required to start.

Check Your Exposure Free

The OPC and your insurer will ask
what controls were in place.

A CanadaSecure assessment gives you a written answer — not a best guess. Start free, or book a call if you're ready to go further.

Check Your Exposure — Free Talk to a Security Advisor

Paid assessments from $497 CAD · No retainers · Plain-English reports

Patient records and booking systemsyour practice can't run without.