Transcript 0:00 [gentle music] Mayors and governors and presidents, I can tell you they do not wanna experience what they're going through. They don't want the riots. They don't want their citizens to go through this. 0:12 So they're going to want to start to plan for future pandemics. 0:16 They will want to plan for the next time if they need more hospital beds, and they'll want to make sure the devices and infrastructure is as secure as possible. 0:29 It's possible to make the new normal work well, even in week eight of working from home. Mitel is offering its home working solution for free until 2021. Offer ends June 30th. 0:42 Get started today with seamless all-in-one cloud calling, conferencing, collaboration, and contact center tools. 0:50 Video call, share documents, chat, and get a little bit closer to normal with your colleagues and customers from anywhere. For more information, go to mitel.com/peggy. 1:07 [upbeat music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation, with your host, Peggy Smedley. 1:22 Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. 1:28 To kick off this week's show, I'd like to tackle two issues everyone is thinking about right now, health and security. I want to ask some tough questions. Do desperate times call for less than perfectly secure measures? 1:43 Is the industry ready for, security-wise that is, for the sharp increase in telehealth because of the COVID-19? And how will this pandemic alter the course of the health security space? 1:57 Now, spoiler alert, I wanna say I don't have the answer to all of these questions, but doesn't it seem like we're in these unchartered territory here? 2:06 I know I feel we are, but I'm curious what all of you feel right now with regards to what's happening. 2:12 Sometimes it's our job, I think, here at The Peggy Smedley Show, to ask these tough questions that don't always have the answers, but to get us thinking and to stir emotions and to engage in a lot of discussion. 2:25 But first, let me tell you about our guests. 2:27 Later on in the show, I will be interviewing Barbara Rambisa, co-founder and president of the International Association of IT Asset Managers, and then I'm gonna wrap up the show talking with Meg Fitzgerald, author of Ascending Davos: A Career Journey from the Emergency Room to the Boardroom. 2:45 It's gonna be a great day for great guests, 'cause we're gonna enjoy their conversation, so I hope you'll stick around. So let's get started. 2:52 It's no surprise to anyone that the healthcare industry is a huge target for cyber criminals. The use of connected medical devices and equipment is on the rise. 3:04 The amount of data available to be stolen is also on the rise, and it's pretty serious right now. 3:10 Cyber criminals are always looking to steal sensitive and valuable information in whatever way they can, and healthcare data is just about as sensitive as it gets. 3:24 Some of the top concerns in the healthcare industry as related to cyber criminals and cyber security, according to InfoSec, include things like budgetary constraints, which prevents healthcare entities from spending what they need to spend on security technology and even staff. 3:44 Human error is another top concern, as is unintentional insider threats and intentional insider threats for that matter. So think about all of these things that are concerning us right now in the security world. 3:59 Verizon's 2019 data breach investigations report suggests a majority of breaches in 2019 were associated with internal actors. 4:11 The top three patterns were miscellaneous errors, privilege misuse, and web applications, and those, if you can believe this, made up 81% of healthcare incidents in 2019. 4:27 59% of threat actors in healthcare last year were internal alone. But the coronavirus pandemic has changed things, wouldn't you say? I know I feel that way, because it's kind of everything's all up in the air right now. 4:42 For example, cyber criminals are always looking for ways to spam and trick people into opening up attachments, clicking on links, and doing so much more. But this pandemic has brought new scams out in droves. 4:59 Here are some numbers I want you to ponder. Between January 1st and April 15th, the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, has received 18,235 reports related to COVID-19. 5:14 Of those, people reported losing $13.44 million to fraud. Only some of this fraud was specific to healthcare, of course. Cyber criminals are attacking at every angle. I mean, just think about it. 5:31 Whatever they can do, they're gonna do it. 5:34 We all have heard of even some websites falsely promising, now I bet you you've seen this, masks and cleaning products that will never arrive in order to gain people's money and personal information. 5:49 One unique circumstance that's adding to all this concern over healthcare security right now is the use of temporary hospitals. Now, how many have we been seeing this? 5:59 In some places, hospitals are overrun with COVID patients, and in response, temporary medical treatment units are being erected wherever they're needed. And we need that, but at the same time, what happens? 6:13 The cyber criminals are waiting just to pounce as quick as they canBut these remote units don't typically benefit from the same security infrastructure that, say, the hospital next door does. 6:27 The top concern in creating these units is naturally putting patients in beds and providing access to healthcare providers and equipment. By default then, security, what do you think? Is not necessarily the top priority. 6:42 This is not anyone's fault. It can't be. There's not enough time. The cost of waiting is too high. So what's the solution here? Is there a solution? That's what we're talking about. 6:56 One of the questions I rhetorically asked at the top of this segment was whether desperate times call for less than perfectly secure measures. Now think about that. 7:07 I think the answer has to be yes, because this situation is evolving too quickly for any other answer. Now, rest assured, I want you to think about this. 7:18 Many months ago, I would have given you a very different answer before COVID ever ha- happened, ever, ever happened, because we would have never have anticipated such a horrific virus attacking so many lives. 7:33 So now, I want your thoughts. On this particular point, I want you to speak up on social media after the show to let me know what you think. Connect to WMAG, LinkedIn, whatever it might be. 7:46 I want to know what you think, because we have to think about saving people's lives, but we also have to think about the security side of things. 7:56 Another question I asked earlier is whether the healthcare industry is ready for the sharp increase in telehealth use that's due to COVID-19. 8:07 I think everyone realized pretty quickly that it wasn't ready to handle the massive surge. 8:13 At the end of April, a group of bipartisan senators penned a letter to CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the commander of the US Cyber Command, raising concerns that the healthcare sector is facing unprecedented threats to the systems behind the telework and telehealth solutions. 8:37 Now, here's what the senators urge CISA and Cyber Command to take the following actions. 8:43 Provide private and public cyber threat intelligence information on attacks against the healthcare, public health, and research sectors. 8:55 Coordinate with parties including the FTC and the FBI to increase public awareness about the specific threats facing our nation right now, today we're talking about, because those bad guys, as I say, you know, those nefarious characters, those guys who are trying to hack things, they're out there right now. 9:17 And thirdly, provide threat assessments, resources, and guidance to public health departments and emergency management agencies to help them defend their critical infrastructures. 9:31 There's other recommendations too, but that's all I'm gonna cover for today because it would go on and on and on, but I wanted you to get the essence of what was happening here because I think that's important. 9:42 Now that I have just a few more minutes left, let's consider the third question I asked at the top of this segment, which I think is really important as well. 9:52 How will this pandemic, COVID-19, the coronavirus, alter the course of the health security space? 10:01 Because I think it's important, and this will, in my opinion for today, you know, although I've provided plenty of, of others throughout this segment, which I think is really important, I believe that the fallout from COVID-19 healthcare security will get stronger. 10:18 I think the healthcare security, without a doubt, will get stronger. Why? Because we have all just experienced our own crash course, a really true crash course in what can go wrong. 10:33 As a result, everyone will be motivated. I mean, we're all gonna be motivated to prevent future situations like this from ever happening again. 10:43 Oh, heaven forbid that we should ever all experience something like this again. Local, state, federal governments, I can tell you the governors do not want to experience what they're going through. 10:56 They don't want the riots. They don't want their citizens to go through this. So they're going to want to start to plan for future pandemics. 11:04 They will want to plan for the next time if they need more hospital beds, and they'll want to make sure the devices and infrastructure is as secure as possible. 11:16 I can assure you that mayors and governors and presidents will never want to have to see so many people lose their lives. Nobody does. We don't wanna lose our friends, family, coworkers. 11:27 This is something nobody wants to experience. No- all these people, the heroes that we talk about, will want to be more prepared. 11:35 They'll want to all start to think about how we can set the procedures in place to make telehealth as strong as healthcare and as available to more people in more places. Because that's the problem. It's not. 11:51 Some places were more prepared to handle it than others, so we have to make it equally prepared. So let's make it all airtight. Let's keep the criminals out. 12:03 I want to know if you agree with me on all of this and all the other points we talked about today. And what other points do you have? What is your view on what we need to do? 12:13 So here's my tip for today, because everything's about how we all want to share and work together on this. 12:20 As much as we can, let's start thinking about what's next.I know it's impossible not to get caught up in all that's going on in the world right now. I know it is. 12:32 We're all, you know, we're all stuck at home, and we're trying our best to flatten the curve, and I know we're tired of being, and we're getting cabin fever, beyond cabin fever. Some of us are out of work. 12:43 Some of us are sick. Some of us have lost loved ones to this terrible virus. I know, and I- I'm sorry for all of you that are, are, are feeling the loss and are feeling frustrated, but you know what? 12:57 As a society, we will come out of this stronger in some ways, perhaps not economically, maybe perhaps economically, but maybe we can strengthen the connected healthcare value proposition. 13:11 Maybe we can tighten healthcare security. Maybe we can do the things we need to to be better. 13:18 It makes me think of a quote I remember that came out that says, "History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed." 13:32 And we are ex- clearly going through this. "They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats." That's what I feel like we're all experiencing right now. 13:44 So let's all continue to fight for each other and to stay safe and healthy. All right. That's all the time I have for today. As I always say, I hope you will tweet at me, @connectedwmag. 13:57 If you haven't been up to our website to see our new article, please go up there at connectedworld.com. And as always, check out our show website at thepeggySmedleyShow.com. 14:06 We're gonna take a quick commercial break, but you know we're gonna be right back, so thanks for listening. As always, this is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. 14:15 And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. [upbeat music]
