Privacy & Security

Ad hoc COVID-19 medical centers have a unique set of vulnerabilities: They're remote, they sit outside of a defense-in-depth architecture and the very nature of their purpose – care in a time of crisis – means security is a lower priority.

CIOs and CISOs take note: In a HIMSS20 Digital session, the former commander of U.S. CyberCommand explains what collective defense is and how it works.

The standard, in use at the Mayo Clinic since 2019, can help providers manage their COVID-19 response and comply with CMS and ONC data-exchange regulations, the company says.

And that's not counting more than 240 million daily spam messages launched at Gmail users that try to capitalize on the coronavirus crisis.

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of cybersecurity and digital transformation, argues Dr Charles Alessi, chief clinical officer at HIMSS.

As opportunistic attacks ramp up, the groups offer recommendations for VPNs and cloud-based services, coronavirus-themed phishing emails, telehealth deployments, and medical device security.

"Cyber criminals will use a time of crisis to cover some of their actions in a very opportunistic way. And so we try to track and match our operations and vigilance to that."

The cybersecurity program will be made available to hospitals, clinics, labs, frontline providers, device manufacturers and life sciences companies that are researching treatments.

Experts from Pew and Accenture discuss the challenges of patient matching, and describe how biometrics technologies can help.

Physicians are now allowed to care for patients at rural hospitals "via phone, radio or online communication, without having to be physically present."