Emergency Reporting, a leading provider of Fire & EMS records management software headquartered in Bellingham, Washington, reported that the company and its databases were not affected by the “WannaCry” ransomware attack. The cyberattack struck hundreds of thousands of Internet users around the globe in recent days, and continues to disrupt the normal routines of many.
The company’s Executive Director, Ed O’Neill, says that at Emergency Reporting (ER), data security is the top priority. “Our most important job is to ensure that customers’ Fire and EMS data is safe and secure,” O’Neill says. “Many of our users have EMS patient data with HIPAA protection, thousands have employee data like payroll, and all have citizen data like names and addresses related to fire services. Our first line of defense is employing a world class team of system administrators and information security professionals who are charged with managing our systems to meet or exceed the expectations of our many Department of Defense customers, which include military branches and government agencies.”
ER holds extremely high security standards and has implemented various best practices to keep customer data secure, including:
- Data at rest protection with AES, and data in motion protection with HTTPS and SSL encryption
- Operating at a DIACAP-compliant security level while concurrently pursuing FedRAMP certification
- Complying with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)’s Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs) for configuration standards
- Requiring two-factor authentication for ER staff for privileged system access
- Operating two physical data centers and several cloud instances hosted with Microsoft Azure
O’Neill says that in addition to the company’s careful regimen of system patching and security monitoring, the team observed the ransomware threat progress and took additional steps to ensure ER’s systems were as secure as possible.
“The ‘WannaCry’ cyberattack is just another reminder that cloud-based systems are absolutely essential for managing records and data, and choosing a records management solution (RMS) that has a top-notch IT team like ER will help ensure that data is safe when cyberattacks happen,” O’Neill says. “We’re proud to be able to offer our customers the highest information security standards in the industry. That’s one of the reasons we’re known as the ‘most trusted’ Fire and EMS solution.”
