A ransomware attack struck the Maryland Department of Health on Dec. 4, driving the systems offline in an effort to contain the spread. The outage has spurred manual COVID-19 reporting.

Here's the concept: Replace the traditional operating system with a relational database, "built on bare metal" said MIT's Michael Coden, with applications input as stored procedures. The result just may be improved resiliency, with faster detection of and recovery from cyber incidents. Now the team just needs more companies to raise their hands and give the prototype a try.

When storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires and other natural disasters strike, they impact life across wide swaths of the country. They also impact the ability to access financial services and the potential for bad actors to get in amid the chaos.

Despite the increased dependence on data backups, in light of ransomware attacks that force organizations to revert to their backed-up information, a new survey of 200 financial service institutions across 45 countries showed that many if not most FSIs have yet to reach a “mature” level of data storage and backup.

The Ireland HSE spent five months recovering from a Conti ransomware attack, caused by a lack of recovery plans. An analysis of the incident can help U.S. providers prevent a similar fate.

Recent reports from Shred-it and SecureLink show most healthcare and pharma providers continue to struggle with securing vendor access and implement plans to support effective recovery after cyberattacks.

Critical attacks against health care thrived in the last year. Now, as patient volumes continue to surge in some parts of the country, safety concerns grow increasingly dire. And yet, say experts, specific data that clearly demonstrates the impact of cyberattacks on patient care remains elusive. This reality, in fact, further complicates an already complex effort among health care providers to establish technology plans and processes that put patient safety and care first.

While there are plenty of compliance checklists, resources, and security standards, there’s no one-size fits all for any health care entity. As a result, the onus of securing the enterprise falls solely on the provider organization. And with limited security staff to go around, many are clearly struggling to keep pace and fully secure the enterprise. Mitre’s health care leaders discuss the patient safety risks, the importance of response plans, and taking advantage of free resources.