Abstract

Healthcare delivery across the globe is critically and increasingly dependent on computerized hardware and software including electronic health records and connected medical devices. Healthcare cyber attacks have resulted in technology failure, compromised data integrity, and breaches of sensitive patient information. Though the proliferation of cyber attacks in healthcare has raised serious concerns about patient privacy violations through healthcare data theft, the impacts of cyber attacks on patient safety and clinical outcomes are poorly understood. This talk will discuss historical barriers to developing a strong, data driven foundational body of knowledge in healthcare cyber security, and the impacts cyber attacks may have on patient outcomes. We will discuss novel patient cyber safety risks inherent in digitized clinical workflows, as well as possible sector wide defensive mitigation strategies resulting in safer and more resilient patient care.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Christian Dameff is an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine, Biomedical Informatics, and Computer Science (affiliate) at the University of California San Diego. At UCSD Health he was hired as the nation’s first Medical Director of Cyber Security. Published clinical works include post cardiac arrest care including therapeutic hypothermia, novel drug targets for acute myocardial infarction patients, ventricular fibrillation waveform analysis, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) quality and optimization, dispatch assisted CPR, teletoxicology, clinical applications of wearables, and electronic health records. Dr. Dameff is also a hacker and security researcher interested in the intersection of healthcare, patient safety, and cybersecurity. He has spoken at some of the world’s most prominent Cyber Security forums including DEFCON, RSA, Blackhat, and BSides, and is one of the cofounders of the CyberMed Summit, a novel multidisciplinary conference with emphasis on medical device and infrastructure cybersecurity. Published cybersecurity topics include hacking 911 systems, HL7 messaging vulnerabilities, and malware.