Stronger healthcare ransomware attack mitigation sought by UC San Diego

Simulated ransomware attacks aimed to improve healthcare cyber threat mitigation efforts will be conducted by the University of California San Diego School of Medicine's new Center for Health Care Cybersecurity using the $9.5 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, EdScoop reports. Such funding will also be leveraged by the center to develop an emergency healthcare technology platform meant to ensure healthcare continuity in the event of a cyberattack. "Healthcare systems are highly vulnerable to ransomware attacks, which can cause catastrophic impacts to patient care and pose an existential threat to smaller health systems. Developing protocols to protect health systems, especially rural and critical access hospitals, will help save lives and make health care better for us all," said UC San Diego Medical Director of Cybersecurity Christian Dameff. Moreover, UC San Diego Health Chief Medical Officer and Chief Digital Officer Christopher Longhurst noted that research conducted by the new center aims to improve the lagging preparedness of healthcare systems against cyberattacks.