UnHack with Drex DeFord

By This Week Health

Cyber-safety is patient-safety. On “UnHack,” Drex DeFord, veteran healthcare CIO and infused strategist, breaks down the biggest cybersecurity and risk challenges facing healthcare today. Drex and exp... more

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FAQs about UnHack with Drex DeFord:

How many episodes does UnHack with Drex DeFord have?

The podcast currently has 202 episodes available.

UnHack with Drex DeFord episodes:

September 26, 2025Newsday: Salesforce Breach Spreads and New Liability Era with George Pappas
September 26, 2025: George Pappas, CEO of Intraprise Health by Health Catalyst, joins This Week Health for the News. Together, they unpack the Salesforce breaches that turned cybersecurity companies into victims and the explosion of personal injury lawyers now chasing data breach cases. With class action lawsuits up fivefold and cyber insurance policies being voided for non-compliance, they explore whether Epic's bold new AI platform strategy could be the answer—or create even bigger problems. As state cyber funding expires and critical infrastructure remains vulnerable, George tackles the uncomfortable question: in a world where everything connects to everything else, who's really watching the watchers?
Key Points:
00:53 Discussing SBOM Guidance

09:22 Salesforce Security Issues

15:04 State and Local Government Security

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21min
September 24, 2025 2 Minute Drill: Secret Service Busts Massive SIM Farm Network in NYC with Drex DeFord
The US Secret Service dismantled a covert communication network in New York City featuring 300+ SIM servers and over 100,000 SIM cards capable of overwhelming cellular networks. Drex explores the implications of this "fake telephone warehouse" discovered near the UN General Assembly, discussing how commodity hardware can create denial of service attacks against cellular infrastructure. Key takeaways include the need for healthcare organizations to develop cellular disruption scenarios in incident response plans, maintain alternative communication channels like landlines and satellite phones, and coordinate with carriers on network anomaly notifications.
Remember, Stay a Little Paranoid
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5min
September 23, 2025UnHack (the Podcast): A Peek Behind the Health ISAC Curtain with Sahan Fernando
September 23, 2025: Sahan Fernando, CISO at Rady Children's Health San Diego, reveals the split-second decisions that keep pediatric healthcare running while under attack. Navigating the stark reality that children's hospitals face the same sophisticated threats as major health systems but with a fraction of the resources, Sahan unpacks how forcing threat actors into high-visibility channels might be the key to catching them faster. Can Health ISAC bridge the massive gap between well-funded health systems and struggling critical access hospitals when developing cybersecurity standards that actually work?
Key Points:
09:10 Challenges and Innovations in Pediatrics

17:24 Data Retention and Security

21:43 Managing Systemic Risks in Healthcare IT

29:26 Cybersecurity in Healthcare: Past and Present

35:45 Ransomware Attack: Decision-Making and Response

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40min
September 22, 2025Newsday: Virtual Care Integration, EHR AI, and Rural Healthcare with Jacob Hansen
September 22: Today on Newsday Sarah and Drex speak with Jacob Hansen, Chief Product and Technology Officer at AvaSure, about virtual care, AI, and more from the news. Jacob highlights the company's focus on inpatient care, virtual observation, and AI solutions. They address the rising expectation for tangible ROI from EHR AI projects, the importance of pilot studies, and the role of virtual care as critical infrastructure in healthcare. Additionally, the conversation delves into strategic approaches to optimizing existing technology in rural hospitals and the necessity for structured governance and clinical change management in implementing new tech solutions.

Articles discussed in this episode:
https://thisweekhealth.com/news_story/hospital-ceos-demand-strategic-impact-from-ehr-and-ai-investments/
https://thisweekhealth.com/news_story/commonspirit-health-pioneers-ai-adoption-in-healthcare-boosting-earnings-by-100m/
https://thisweekhealth.com/news_story/wickenburg-hospital-boosts-efficiency-with-strategic-ehr-optimization-initiative/
...more
32min
September 19, 2025 2 Minute Drill: Why AI "Hallucinates" and How Healthcare Leaders Can Stay Safe with Drex DeFord
Drex breaks down why AI models like ChatGPT sometimes fabricate confident-sounding but false information, calling it "bluffing" rather than hallucinating. He explores OpenAI's research on training gaps, alignment issues, and response pressure that cause this problem. For healthcare professionals, he shares practical strategies including setting explicit context rules, demanding source verification, and maintaining human oversight when using AI for InfoSec policies, alert triage, or patient care guidance.
Remember, Stay a Little Paranoid
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6min
September 15, 2025Newsday: Possible Government Shutdown and Epic's Big Ambient Push with Ryan Bengtson
September 15, 2025: Patients now walk into doctors' offices armed with AI-generated diagnoses and treatment plans—but what happens when ChatGPT becomes your primary care physician? Ryan Bengtson, CEO and Board member at Panda Health, joins the This Week Health team to dive into this shifting dynamic while confronting an imminent government shutdown that threatens to pull the rug out from under telehealth programs and rural hospitals already hanging by a thread. As Epic makes its calculated move into ambient listening technology, disrupting yet another innovative startup space, the panel asks whether we're witnessing Epic stunt healthcare innovation or if it’s just business as usual.
Key Points:
00:55 AI in Healthcare: Patient Empowerment and Challenges

12:25 Government Shutdown and Its Impact on Healthcare

20:08 The Flawed Healthcare System and AI's Role

30:18 Epic's Impact on Innovation and Future Trends

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38min
September 11, 2025 2 Minute Drill: Qantas' Bold Move to Cut Senior Leadership Bonuses with Drex DeFordAfter Data Breach
Qantas made headlines by cutting all senior executive bonuses by 15% following a data breach affecting 5.7 million customers. This episode explores why cybersecurity accountability should extend beyond IT teams to the entire C-suite, and examines how this approach could transform healthcare cybersecurity investments. Drex discusses the potential impact of tying executive compensation to cyber performance and challenges healthcare leaders to consider putting "skin in the game" when it comes to security failures.
Remember, Stay a Little Paranoid
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5min
September 10, 2025Solution Showcase: The Future of Patient Monitoring with Terri Couts and Rachel Weissberg
September 10, 2025: Terri Couts, Chief Digital Officer at Guthrie Clinic, and Rachel Weissberg, Head of Healthcare Provider Strategy (North America) at Neteera, uncover how a simple ambient monitoring partnership is quietly transforming long-term care. How do you detect when a patient is slowly deteriorating before traditional thresholds are crossed? The conversation explores the delicate balance between implementing frictionless technology and managing the human side of healthcare innovation. Terri and Rachel share insights about learning together, adapting quickly, and discovering that the most meaningful patient data takes time.
Key Points:
00:51 The Collaboration Journey

07:51 Data Insights and Patient Care

15:05 Future Directions and Integrations

16:32 Advice for Healthcare Leaders

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20min
September 08, 2025Newsday: Healthcare Under Siege - Cybersecurity Expert Ed Gaudet on AI Threats & Third-Party Risks
September 8, 2025: Ed Gaudet, CEO and Founder of Censinet, joins the This Week Health team for the news. When SalesLoft's Drift chatbot breach exposes over 700 companies through a single API vulnerability, it raises an unsettling question: are we witnessing a preview of something much larger? The security experts shift seats and play the role of the hackers, answering where they would attack first if they were the bad guys. With critical cybersecurity legislation potentially expiring and government support drying up, can healthcare keep up?
Key Points:
02:01 AI and Cybersecurity Threats

06:34 Phishing Attacks and Security Measures

12:57 Legal Hurdles in Cybersecurity

19:02 Managing AI Risks

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33min
September 01, 2025UnHack (the News): Help Desk Hacks, Fake IT Workers & AI Ransomware - The New Cyber Threat Playbook
September 1, 2025: Cristian Rodriguez, Americas Field CTO at CrowdStrike, joins Drex for the news. What starts as a simple phone call to your help desk could be the beginning of a major security breach—but how do attackers make these voice phishing campaigns so convincing? Then, North Korean operatives successfully infiltrate major western companies as remote employees. How are these fake workers passing interviews, and what happens when their paychecks fund weapons programs while they potentially plant malware in critical systems? As the discussion unfolds, Cristian explains how modern cybercrime groups operate like legitimate businesses, complete with organizational structures and specialized roles.

Key Points:
02:36 Global Threat Report Insights
06:20 North Korean Fake Employees
11:10 Or96ganizational Structure of Cybercrime Groups
14:47 AI in Ransomware Negotiations

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18min

FAQs about UnHack with Drex DeFord:

How many episodes does UnHack with Drex DeFord have?

The podcast currently has 202 episodes available.