How many times have you seen that Life Lock commercial with a celebrity or someone random saying that they got their identity stolen and how Life Lock completely changed their lives because, thankfully, they were able to stop hackers from sucking them dry of all their money? The commercial then goes on to give you statistics about how many people have their identity hacked and/or stolen everyday. At that point, you’re thinking about how you can keep your information safe because you do not want to lose all your hard earned money either.
You get to thinking about what information you put out into the world. Your social security number, your home address, your routing number, etc., it’s hard to really grasp how much our information actually makes us vulnerable. It seems that now, more than ever, there is an abundance of way for someone to get their hands on our information. And as if we need to make it easier for them, we get to add another item to the list – the CPAP machine.
What a weird concept, right? How could out CPAP machine be the root cause of identity theft or something similar? Well, you’d be surprise to learn how easy it is for hackers to get a hold of such information from a breathing machine. We, sometimes, make it easier for them by using unsecured networks or even by logging onto the manufacturer’s (of your CPAP machine) website. While there may seem like a million and two ways for some scammer to get a hold of your information, there are a few things that you can do to aid in keeping your information safe and secure.
Firstly, I would like to point out that while this blog post is about CPAP security and how you may be at risk that does not mean that both ResMed and Respironics do not have extremely difficult firewalls to break through. They are very open with their patients about how their data and information is collected and protected. You can find lengthy articles on how and why they collect and use the data for research and keep track of your progress. You can find the links to both websites at the end of this posting.
Now, here are some tips that you can incorporate to help protect, not only your medical/CPAP information, but all your other information as well: when registering on a website or for a new account, be sure to create a strong, random password, something with several capital letters, numbers, and characters; try to avoid using the same password for multiple websites – think of it as if one account is compromised, then all your accounts may be comprised as well, and we definitely want to avoid that; change your passwords every so often, I recommend once every quarter, to avoid any sticky situations; if you are keeping track of any accounts through your smart phone/tablet, then please keep up-to-date with any software updates as they typically include security updates; and lastly, don’t use public Wi-Fi when providing personal information – this is the easiest way to have your information stolen.
At the end of the day, we all want to feel like our cyber security system is the best in the business and that our information is protected. Now there is no guarantee that these tips will keep your information safe, but following these tips is better than sitting idly waiting for something bad to happen. We don’t want to be that next statistic on that Life Lock commercial, so take he necessary steps to protect yourself today!
Privacy Policies:
ResMed: https://www.resmed.com/us/en/consumer/privacy.html
Respironics: https://www.sleepapnea.com/privacy-notice/
For more tips on keeping your information safe, please see:
https://www.thecpapshop.com/blog/cpap-data-privacy/
Fore more information about sleep apnea, machines, and supplies, please see: www.cpapoffice.com