Today. As physical war rages, halfway around the world, the aha warns of cyber warfare on our shores. My name is bill Russell. I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system and creator of this week health, a set of channels dedicated to keeping health it staff current and engaged. We want to thank our show sponsors who are investing in developing the next generation of health leaders, accordion dynamics, Quill health tau site nuance, Canon medical, and current health.

Check them out at this week. health.com/today. Great webinar yesterday. If you missed it, it was on moving epic to Azure. Phenomenal conversation. , you could sign up for the on-demand webinar at this week. health.com. All right, let's get to today's story. The us healthcare organizations were warned of cyber threats related to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. I got this article from SC magazine. You could pick it up at a number of different locations. Here's some excerpts.

The aha American hospital association believes there are three areas of concern for us healthcare sector in light of the Russian invasion of the Ukraine, hospitals and health systems may be directly targeted. We're become incidental victims of Russian back threat actors. Or could see operational disruptions brought on by cyber attacks.

These concerns are rot from Russia's previous attack methods of using cyber weapons as military action against Ukraine. And they give it an example from 2017. As such a warrant that hospitals and health systems may become incidental victims of or collateral damage to Russian deployed malware or destructive ransomware that inadvertently penetrates us healthcare entities.

Inadvertently. Okay. , aha. And the department of health and human services, cyber security coordination center are urging healthcare delivery organizations. To be on alert and take action on key security mitigations to prevent potential operational disruptions. The us government and NATO issued economic and military actions in response to the invasion, which raises concerns that Russia could retaliate.

With disruptive cyber attacks for political and military gain the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency. CYSA. Previously issued an alert. To the private sector of increased cyber threats. Two critical infrastructure. AAJ has been closely monitoring the potential for increased cyber risk.

To the us health system stemming from these ongoing military actions as Russia has previously employed cyber attacks. That John Regi H. A national advisor for cybersecurity and risk has been closely coordinating with CYSA FBI, H H S on potential threats to the health care sector. The collaboration has resulted in key recommendations.

Hospitals and health systems should immediately take. To proactively protect its environment from potential Russian backed threats. Our other cyber adversaries, mainly China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia based ransomware gangs may see this as an opportunity to increase their cyber espionage activity.

All right. , Let's see if there's some other things we should read here. Ha. And CYSA previously issued a number of alerts. We've got that all workforce members. Should be urged to be on heightened alert. Healthcare security leaders should apply. , geo-fencing for inbound and outbound traffic originated from and relating to Ukraine and its surrounding region.

Okay. If not previously implemented entities should work to identify internal and third-party mission critical. Clinical and operational services and tech, in addition to implementing business continuity plans, as well as practice downtime procedures. For four to six weeks to ensure operations can be maintained.

That's a, by the way, that four to six weeks, we're hearing that over and over again. , be prepared to be down for four to six weeks in a well-executed ransomware attack. With the heightened alert, it's an ideal opportunity to recheck network and data backups for redundancy, resiliency. It's always a good time to do that. Healthcare entities are encouraged to reach out directly to H a with any questions

C3 also issued an alert. On the potential for cyber adversaries to target entities with foreign influence operations, such as misinformation, disinformation, and mal information. These attacks are meant to shape public opinion, undermine trust, amplify division. And so discord, the healthcare sector should review the CYSA.

, alert while identifying potential vulnerabilities. All right. So that's more of a public service announcement than anything. Let me give you my cell one on this. We should assume there's a cyber war at all times, we represent high value targets and it doesn't matter if it's war time or peace time.

In the cyber world. If someone can benefit from infiltrating or shutting down your house system, you are a target today and every day. Visual image is the key. Have a plan, train your people have the right tools. We have several partners that I highly recommend Sempras for active directory and they talk about active directory being one of the things that would be targeted.

CrowdStrike proof point mitigate and Truluck's. At the end of the day. Here's my, so what. Be vigilant at all times. That's all for today. If you know someone that might benefit from our channel, please forward them a note. They can subscribe on our website this week, health.com or wherever you listen to podcasts, apple, Google, overcast, Spotify, Stitcher.

You get the picture. We are everywhere. We want to thank our channel sponsors who are investing in our mission to develop the next generation of health leaders, Gordian dynamics, Quill health Taos, site nuance, Canon medical, and current health. 📍 Check them out at this week. health.com/today. Thanks for listening. That's all for now.