Across the UK, dental practices continue to move away from on-site servers and towards cloud-based systems such as Practice Management Systems, Digital imaging platforms and online patient records. This shift brings clear benefits: flexibility, reduced infrastructure costs and easier access to systems across multiple locations.
Cloud providers are correct in saying that a physical server is no longer required. What’s often misunderstood is that this does not remove the need for cyber security. In reality, it changes where the risk sits and increases the importance of protecting the practice itself.
Modern cloud platforms are built to high security standards. What they don’t protect are the devices, users and email accounts accessing them.
Every PC in surgery, every workstation at reception, every laptop used remotely and every login represents a potential entry point. Most cyber incidents begin here — not with the cloud software itself, but with a compromised device, a stolen password or a convincing phishing email. This is exactly where cloud-first practices need to focus their security efforts.
While clinical records and digital imaging are increasingly cloud-hosted, they are rarely the only data a practice holds.
Documents such as HR records, staff training files, referral letters, scanned correspondence, financial spreadsheets, reports and locally saved images often remain stored on individual PCs, shared folders or legacy storage systems. This data is just as sensitive and just as important as clinical records.
If these files are only stored locally, they remain exposed to device failure, accidental deletion, ransomware and data loss. Moving to a cloud PMS does not automatically protect this information.
For many practices, the right approach is to ensure non-clinical data is also securely stored and backed up online. Common options include:
The key point is not which platform is used but having clear visibility of where all practice data lives, not just clinical systems.
Dental practices hold a combination of medical, personal and financial data, making them attractive targets for cyber criminals.
Most attacks we see are not technically complex. They succeed because of phishing emails, reused or weak passwords, unpatched devices and human error during busy working days. Increased cloud connectivity can amplify these risks if security controls are not in place across devices, email and user access.
Whether systems are hosted locally or in the cloud, responsibility for data protection and compliance remains with the practice. This includes:
If data is lost, encrypted by ransomware or accessed without authorisation, accountability does not sit with the software provider, it sits with the practice.
As practices move away from on-site servers, security must focus on protecting people, devices, access and data — wherever it lives.
Microminder’s security services are designed specifically for this cloud-first reality and include:
This layered approach reflects how dental practices actually operate today, not how they operated when everything lived on a single server.
Effective cyber security should protect without disruption. When implemented properly, it supports GDPR and NHS compliance, reduces downtime, protects patient trust and allows teams to work confidently with modern cloud systems.
At its best, security runs quietly in the background, enabling practices to focus on patient care rather than IT issues.
Cloud PMS and digital imaging platforms are now central to modern dentistry. As practices move away from on-site servers, security strategies must evolve accordingly.
The key question is no longer “Do we still need a server?”
It’s “Are all our users, devices and data — clinical and non-clinical — properly protected?”
That’s the question Microminder helps dental practices answer every day.
— KP
Chief Technology Officer
Microminder
