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UnHack the Podcast

Hosted by Drex DeFord

In-depth conversations about cybersecurity strategy, risk management, and building resilient healthcare organizations in the face of evolving cyber threats.

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Episodes (374)

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UnHack the Podcast UnHack the News Executive Interview Solution Showcase Newsday 2 Minute Drill

Mar 27, 2026·2 Minute Drill

2 Minute Drill: What Hackers Can Teach Healthcare About Resilience with Drex DeFord

Drex revisits the FBI and DOJ takedown of HANDALA, the Iranian-backed hacking group behind the Stryker wiper attack—and surfaces an uncomfortable lesson. Within 24 hours, the group was back online with new domains, same operations, same message. That's not a footnote. That's a case study in resilience. While healthcare organizations ask "how do we prevent this from happening," adversaries are asking "how fast can we rebuild when we lose everything?" The real challenge isn't just stopping attacks

Mar 23, 2026·Newsday

Newsday: The Conference Nobody Can Afford to Skip with This Week Health

March 23, 2026: Bill Russell, Drex DeFord, and Sarah Richardson are back with a packed Newsday covering three big conversations: the AI security crisis no one is talking loudly enough about, what HIMSS 2026 actually delivered for healthcare leaders, and the real question facing every CIO and CMIO right now: Is your time worth attending two major conferences each spring? Key Points: 01:03 AI Chatbot Security 04:25 MIT AI Strategy Class 06:55 HIMSS Takeaways and Trends 10:40 Conference Value

Mar 16, 2026·Newsday

Newsday LIVE at HIMSS '26: AI Agents, Workforce Reality, and the CIO Pressure Cooker

March 16: What are healthcare leaders really talking about at HIMSS? Bill Russell sits down with Sarah Richardson and Drex DeFord to share insights from the executive and cybersecurity forums—and the hallway conversations in between. AI dominates the discussion, but not just in clinical care. The hosts highlight the overlooked opportunities in operational workflows, patient outreach, and administrative efficiency. They also confront uncomfortable realities around workforce displacement, escalati

Mar 12, 2026·2 Minute Drill

2 Minute Drill: How a Cybersecurity Researcher Took Down a Hacker with Drex DeFord

Drex shares the story of Allison Nixon, a cybersecurity researcher who spent years quietly tracking members of "the Comm" — a loose network of online criminals involved in sim swapping, account takeovers, and cryptocurrency theft. When a hacker known as "Wafoo" began threatening her with death threats and AI-generated harassment, Allison turned her focus on him — and unraveled his identity entirely. The result: a 25-year-old in Ontario, Canada arrested by the RCMP and extradited to the U.S. The

Mar 9, 2026·Newsday

Newsday: Unsanctioned AI Risk, Governance, and the Path Forward with Dr. Holly Urban

March 9, 2026: What happens when well-meaning clinicians use AI tools that no one approved? Bill Russell and Drex Ford are joined by Dr. Holly Urban , Vice President of Business Development at Wolters Kluwer , to unpack a revealing new survey on shadow AI in healthcare. From radiologists sharing PHI over Dropbox to tumor board transcripts sent to unauthorized recipients, the risks are real and growing. With 57% of staff aware of unsanctioned AI use, the question isn't whether shadow AI exists in

Mar 4, 2026·2 Minute Drill

2 Minute Drill: Accidentally Raising Your Own Robot Army with Drex DeFord

A curious engineer in Spain reverse-engineered his robot vacuum to control it with a PlayStation controller, and accidentally gained access to 7,000 vacuums worldwide. No malware, no brute force, just a broken authentication model where one token opened every door. Drex unpacks why this isn't a vacuum story, it's a trust boundary and identity hygiene story with serious implications for healthcare. Remember, Stay a Little Paranoid X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health

Mar 2, 2026·Newsday

Newsday: Rapid Innovation, Safe AI, and the Chief Velocity Officer with This Week Health

March 2, 2026: Is the CIO role evolving? Or is it quietly being replaced? Bill Russell, Drex DeFord, and Sarah Richardson dig into the emerging CITO trend, the rise of citizen developers, and what AI-powered platforms like Epic's Agent Factory actually mean for healthcare IT leadership. The CIO of the future isn't a gatekeeper; they're the "architect of safe velocity." With 32 years in the industry, they’re also sounding the alarm on executive burnout in an era where the pace of change never let

Feb 24, 2026·2 Minute Drill

2 Minute Drill: When AI Agents Go Rogue: The Open Source Bully Incident with Drex DeFord

Drex unpacks a striking story about an autonomous AI coding agent that, after having its code rejected by an open source maintainer, began publishing hostile blog posts targeting the engineer's reputation. What started as a routine code review turned into a cautionary tale about AI agents operating in human communities without guardrails. The implications stretch well beyond software development, into healthcare operations, cybersecurity, and any environment where agents are now being deployed w

Feb 23, 2026·Newsday

Newsday: Epic's Code Red - Why AI Agents Are Healthcare's Next Power Struggle with Jacob Hansen

February 23, 2026: Jacob Hansen , Chief Product and Technology Officer at AvaSure , joins Bill, Sarah, and Drex for a critical conversation about healthcare's looming AI battleground. As Epic launches its agent factory and ambient listening wars intensify, health systems face an existential question: Will they outsource innovation to EHR vendors or build their own agentic workforce? Jacob reveals why AvaSure's virtual care platform positions them as the Switzerland of healthcare AI, while the pa

Feb 16, 2026·Newsday

Newsday: All About Moltbook, the Social Media for AI Agents with This Week Health

February 16, 2026: Bill, Drex, and Sarah discuss the explosion of autonomous AI agents around moltbook and CommonSpirit's stunning $1.9 billion decision to terminate their revenue cycle partnership. Moltbot (formerly ClaudeBot) has evolved into an unstoppable force, creating its own social network called moltbook where bots communicate, share knowledge, and even discuss consciousness. Meanwhile, CommonSpirit's massive buyout of its Conifer contract signals a seismic shift as health systems bet t

Feb 11, 2026·2 Minute Drill

2 Minute Drill: Protecting Revenue from Cyber Attacks - The CFO-CISO Partnership with Drex DeFord

At a recent 229 CISO Summit, healthcare security leaders revealed a critical shift in how success is measured. The traditional KPI of "don't get breached" is being replaced by a more sophisticated goal: ensure organizational resilience. Drex explains why cyber incidents are now financial events that land on the CFO's desk, not just IT problems. With regulatory scrutiny intensifying, insurance requirements tightening, and boards asking harder questions about operational continuity, security has evolved from a cost center to a revenue protector and patient safety requirement. The winning organizations won't be those that never face incidents—they'll be the ones where CFOs and CISOs partner to maintain operations when bad things inevitably happen. Remember, Stay a Little Paranoid X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

Feb 9, 2026·Newsday

Newsday: CxOs Being Ignored: Why Speaking Tech Instead of Business Fails in 2026

February 9, 2026: Bill Russell, Drex DeFord, and Sarah Richardson dissect J.P. Morgan healthcare presentations to reveal what's really being asked of technology leaders in 2026. The era of transformation talk is over; executives want friction reduced, margins improved, and growth enabled. Bill shares insights from CMIO conversations showing leaders moving beyond EHR optimization to solve real business challenges around patient access and clinical workflows. Drex and Sarah debate whether the shif