Veterinary Clinics and the Hidden Costs of Ignoring IT
Common vulnerabilities to look for when discussing cybersecurity with your veterinary clinics.
In an increasingly digital world, veterinary practices are facing mounting pressure to keep their IT systems secure, efficient and resilient – without the benefit of in-house tech departments or enterprise-level budgets. To shed light on the most pressing challenges and practical solutions in veterinary IT, Vet-Advantage spoke with Jennifer James, executive director of business development at pute.us, a technology concierge service dedicated exclusively to the veterinary industry.
With a background that spans veterinary medicine, nonprofit leadership, and business consulting, James brings a unique, systems-oriented perspective to the intersection of technology and animal healthcare. In this Q&A, she shares insights on common infrastructure pitfalls, cybersecurity blind spots, and the steps practices can take to future-proof their operations – even on a tight budget.
What are the most common IT challenges you see veterinary clinics struggling with today?
James: The most common challenges we see are:
- Outdated hardware that hasn’t kept up with software or workflow demands, creating bottlenecks.
- Networks that were poorly designed or never designed to handle the number of devices and integrations modern practices use, especially with cloud-based PIMS, VoIP and imaging.
- Lack of proactive maintenance and monitoring, which means issues like drive failures or slowdowns are only discovered after they cause a disruption.
- And a big one: practices simply don’t have visibility into their own infrastructure, making it hard to plan ahead or even know what they have.
How do budget constraints impact IT infrastructure in small to mid-sized clinics?
James: Budget constraints often force clinics to take a “band-aid” approach. They go by fixing only what’s broken instead of investing in a cohesive, scalable system. This leads to a patchwork of hardware and software, making support more difficult and failures more likely. Clinics also tend to delay replacing aging servers or implementing managed security, leaving them more vulnerable to data loss or cyber threats.
Do most clinics have adequate data backup and disaster recovery plans in place?
James: Unfortunately, no – most do not. Many clinics believe they’re “backed up” because a local drive or cloud service is running, but often these backups haven’t been tested, don’t meet compliance standards, or don’t protect against ransomware. A true disaster recovery plan also accounts for how to operate during downtime, which is rarely considered until a crisis hits.
Can you describe a recent incident where a veterinary clinic faced a serious IT or security issue?
James: We worked recently with a clinic that experienced a major security breach at the router level. Their generic staff password was compromised and allowed external access to the network. They were unaware the router was even accessible remotely, and the incident exposed confidential data and disrupted operations.
What were the lessons learned from that situation, and how was it resolved?
James: The biggest lessons learned:
- Routers and firewalls are critical security devices and need to be properly configured and monitored.
- Using shared or weak passwords across devices is a serious risk.
- It’s vital to have a clear process for managing staff access and credentials.
- Regular network audits can catch vulnerabilities before they’re exploited.
We resolved the situation by replacing the compromised router with an enterprise-grade, monitored device, implementing strong password policies, and setting up alerts for any unusual activity on the network.
What are the warning signs a clinic should watch for that indicate a vulnerability or upcoming failure?
James: Some of the biggest red flags include frequent crashes, slow performance, or unexplained errors; staff accounts being locked out unexpectedly; antivirus or backups reporting failures; internet or phones dropping intermittently; aging servers and workstations – typically anything over 5-7 years old – are at higher risk; and if you’ve never had a professional network security review, that in itself is a sign it’s time to look closer.
Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities
According to James, the most frequent vulnerabilities pute.us sees when working with veterinary practices include:
- Weak or generic passwords (sometimes the same one across multiple devices and accounts).
- Inadequate or nonexistent firewall protections, especially at the router level.
- Outdated antivirus and no endpoint monitoring on workstations.
- Staff unknowingly clicking phishing links or giving out credentials to “support” scammers.
- No multi-factor authentication (MFA) on email or cloud services, which is critical today.
Jennifer James is the executive director of business development at pute.us, a technology concierge service dedicated exclusively to the veterinary industry. With a background in veterinary medicine, nonprofit leadership, and business consulting, James brings a unique blend of heart and strategy to every partnership.
Photo credits:
- istockphoto.com/Halfpoint
- istockphoto.com/Dragos Condrea
