One ransomware hit on Cornerstone or Avimark means no appointments, no records, no controlled-substance log, and no payments — for days. Live coaching trains your front desk, techs, and DVMs to spot the attacks before they land.
Ransomware actors have specifically targeted veterinary practice management systems. In documented 2023–2024 attacks on multi-location vet groups, Cornerstone and Avimark installations were encrypted — practice downtime averaged 5–14 days. No PIMS access means no appointment scheduling, no patient record lookup, no medication history, and no billing. Every day offline costs a mid-size practice $8,000–$25,000 in lost revenue and recovery costs.
Online refill portals and retail pharmacy integrations (Vetsource, Covetrus, Henry Schein) are active targets for Magecart-style skimming attacks and credential theft. Card-on-file abuse in client accounts and fake “prescription approval” phishing emails have defrauded both practices and pet owners. A compromised online pharmacy integration can expose hundreds of client payment methods before detection.
Veterinary PIMS systems store client names, home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, payment methods, and pet insurance policy numbers — all resalable on dark web markets. Medical record theft extends to vaccination histories, surgical notes, and prescription records for controlled substances. A single compromised staff credential can expose every client in the practice database.
Veterinarians who prescribe Schedule II–V controlled substances (ketamine, butorphanol, phenobarbital) must maintain DEA-compliant dispensing logs under 21 CFR §1304. Phishing emails impersonating DEA inspection notices or PIMS vendor support harvest veterinarian DEA registrant credentials. Ransomware that encrypts or destroys controlled-substance logs creates federal recordkeeping violations — independent of any payment made to restore access.
Veterinary practices that accept card payments must comply with PCI DSS — a breach of your payment system triggers mandatory reporting and card-brand fines. DEA 21 CFR §1304 requires controlled-substance dispensing logs to remain retrievable for two years; ransomware that destroys or encrypts those records creates federal DEA compliance exposure. The FTC Safeguards Rule applies to any practice offering CareCredit or third-party financing. California, Illinois, and New York have enacted state-level privacy laws covering client PII collected at veterinary offices. A documented security awareness training program is your primary evidence of reasonable care in any regulatory investigation.
"We run a 7-day-a-week small animal practice with seven DVMs and twelve support staff. When our PIMS vendor warned us about ransomware targeting similar practices, I went looking for training that would actually land with a front desk coordinator and a DVM in the same session. SecurEveryone built exactly that — everyone walked away knowing what to do differently."
— Practice Manager, Multi-Doctor Small Animal Practice
"After a ransomware incident at another specialty hospital in our network, our administrator brought SecurEveryone in for a Business-tier session. The DEA log section hit hard — nobody had connected controlled-substance recordkeeping obligations to a ransomware scenario before. That was the moment the whole team understood this wasn’t just an IT issue."
— Hospital Administrator, Specialty & Emergency Animal Hospital
"I own a two-location mixed-practice and handle the DEA compliance myself. The executive session walked me through exactly what a ransomware attack does to my controlled-substance log obligations and what I’d need to document for a DEA audit in the aftermath. The ROI was clear before we even finished the session."
— DVM-Owner, Two-Location Mixed Animal Practice
No — the Business-tier session is designed to cover every role in one 2-hour webinar. We use role-specific scenarios throughout: front desk staff get targeted content on appointment scheduling phishing, fake client portal emails, and payment fraud. Veterinary technicians get focused content on PIMS credential hygiene and controlled-substance log security. DVMs get specific coverage of DEA credential phishing and what happens to their license if a ransomware attack destroys dispensing records. Everyone gets the same foundational threat recognition — the examples are role-specific so the training lands for each person.
DEA 21 CFR §1304 requires controlled-substance dispensing records to be kept for two years and made available for DEA inspection. If ransomware encrypts or destroys your PIMS — and your controlled-substance log lives only in that system — you face a federal recordkeeping violation independent of any ransom you pay. The DEA does not grant exceptions for ransomware. Our Executive session covers DEA log backup requirements, what to tell the DEA if your records are compromised, and the documentation you need to maintain separately from your PIMS to survive a ransomware incident without a federal compliance problem.
The Business-tier session is a live 2-hour Zoom webinar with unlimited participants — you can schedule it at any time, including early morning before the first appointment, or split across two sessions if your staffing schedule requires it. We’ve run sessions for emergency hospitals at 6 a.m. and for high-volume clinics on Sunday evenings. There’s no “office hours” constraint. If your team can’t all be online simultaneously, contact us when booking and we’ll coordinate a structure that works around your schedule.
No. Cornerstone, Avimark, ezyVet, IDEXX Neo, and every other major PIMS vendor publish security responsibilities that make clear your practice is accountable for staff credentials, access controls, and phishing defense. The vendor secures the software; you secure the people using it. In documented PIMS ransomware cases, the initial entry point was a phishing email that harvested a staff member’s login credentials — the PIMS vendor’s infrastructure was never breached. Your team is the attack surface. Training is the control.
Yes — documented security awareness training is now one of the most common requirements in cyber insurance renewal questionnaires for veterinary practices. Insurers are specifically asking whether all staff (not just IT staff) receive annual security training, whether training covers phishing recognition and credential hygiene, and whether training completion is documented. Our Business-tier session produces a training completion record you can attach to your renewal application. Several clients have reported reduced premiums after showing documented training at renewal — and some were required to show it to maintain coverage.
Take our free Phishing IQ Quiz to benchmark your team's awareness in 5 minutes — or book a 15-minute consult with one of our instructors.