In the face of relentless cyberattacks that threaten patient safety, hospitals must strengthen their resilience, with clinical continuity, secure backups and coordinated recovery emerging as critical strategies, said John Riggi of the American Hospital Association and Josh Howell of Rubrik.

Artificial intelligence that is embedded in newer editions of software and other technology tools but is not explicitly revealed by vendors is a substantial risk on par with shadow AI, said regulatory attorney Elizabeth Hodge with the law firm Akerman LLP.

AI is accelerating cyberattacks faster than organizations can prioritize them, forcing security leaders to rethink how they define and defend against “emerging threats.” Most modern threats aren’t new, just amplified by AI, says Akamai's Brent Maynard.

AI is compressing cyberattack timelines from months to minutes. While segmentation has been a gold standard security practice for years, many organizations are still operating with outdated, static approaches.

Cancer research and treatment innovation - and the tech that powers that - requires a great deal of collaboration and data sharing among multiple parties. But keeping that sensitive information secure and private is crucial - and requires adherence to standards, said Baxter Lee of Clearwater.

An identity-based microsegmentation deployment at Main Line Health in Philadelphia is helping to control how its roughly 60,000 devices communicate across the network in order to protect clinical operations and limit the impact of potential cyberattacks, said Main Line Health CISO Aaron Weismann.

Attorneys can conduct security risks assessments under the color of client privilege, making it less likely to surface in discovery during litigation. But healthcare firms should consider the cons before they take that route, said attorney Adam Greene, partner at the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine.

Real and intense financial pressures on rural and small healthcare clinics mandate making difficult decisions on allocating funds to cybersecurity, said Greg Sieg, CISO at the University of Michigan Regional Health Network. "The funding is just not there."

Medical device cyber challenges are among the most complex for manufacturers and healthcare delivery organizations for a variety of reasons, but there are some promising developments underway that could help ease the pain, said Phil Englert of the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

For the U.S. healthcare ecosystem, the 2024 ransomware attack on Change Healthcare proved to be a supply-chain earthquake in showcasing critical third-party risk that entities now must carefully and urgently consider, said Erik Decker, CISO of Intermountain Health and a federal cyber adviser.