Data Breach Today Podcast

Quantum computing could bring the next technology "revolution" in healthcare, but organizations will face critical cybersecurity issues when quantum becomes a reality, said attorney Lee Kim, senior principal of cybersecurity and privacy at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

So far, medical devices affected in ransomware attacks have mostly been a casualty of IT networks being taken offline. But the potential nightmare scenario is a targeted device attack in which cybercriminals threaten to kill patients, said Dr. Eric Liederman, CEO of consulting firm CyberSolutionsMD.

As clinicians move to a model of working anywhere - on many types of devices and under a variety of different internet environments - web browser security is a heightened concern, said John Frushour, vice president and CISO at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and CyberEdBoard member.

The majority of significant attacks hitting the health sector involve unpatched vulnerabilities dating back years, a situation cybercriminals are more easily and swiftly able to exploit using AI-based tools, said Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center President and CEO Denise Anderson.

The Health Sector Coordinating Council is kicking off a health sector mapping initiative aimed at helping the ecosystem avoid massive disruptions in the event of major cyber incidents, said Greg Garcia, executive director for cybersecurity at the Health Sector Coordinating Council.

The adoption of privacy enhancing technologies, including fully homomorphic encryption, can help secure data as it is collected, integrated and shared for detecting and responding to public health emergencies such as bird flu, said Kurt Rohloff, co-founder and CTO of Duality Technologies.

A proposed state privacy law awaiting the signature of New York State's governor promises to make the processing of and sale of health information by a wide array of organizations much more complicated and restrictive, said regulatory attorney Angie Matney, who explains why.

It's critical for healthcare providers that offer telehealth and remote patient monitoring services to incorporate these systems into their organizational risk programs, including how they plan to address issues such as patch management from afar, said attorney Betsy Hodge of the law firm Akerman.

States will increasingly be stepping up to fill gaps in the healthcare sector with new cyber legislation and requirements as the Trump administration promises to roll back regulations, predicts attorney Amy Magnano of the law firm Morgan Lewis' healthcare practice.

While artificial intelligence platforms and tools promise to offer encouraging potential in healthcare, many are unprepared to deal with the risks these emerging technologies pose - similar to the early days of social media, said Keith Fricke, partner and principal of tw-Security.