UnHack (the Podcast): A Peek Behind the Health ISAC Curtain with Sahan Fernando

October 13, 2025: Healthcare IT leaders are exhausted, CIO positions remain unfilled for months, and the pressure keeps mounting. In this candid conversation, Laura O'Toole, CEO and Founder of SureTest, explores why traditional CIO roles are transforming faster than organizations can define them. They discuss the widening gap between leadership expectations and operational reality, the critical shift from problem-solver to coalition-builder, and why empathy may be the most underrated leadership skill in healthcare technology. From managing burnout to navigating constant organizational change, this episode reveals what it really takes to lead effectively when "busy" has become the new normal and the rulebook keeps changing. Key Points: 02:31 Managing Teams and Expectations09:57 Technology in Healthcare12:38 CIO Role and Market Dynamics20:21 The Importance of Building Coalitions26:25 Handling Global Events as a Leader31:22 Empathy and Connection in Leadership X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

Drex tackles an urgent emerging threat in healthcare cybersecurity: the explosion of AI-generated synthetic media. With Meta's new Vibes video generator and OpenAI's Sora creating hyper-realistic video content from simple text prompts, healthcare organizations face unprecedented challenges in distinguishing real from fake content.While watermarks and AI labels exist on these generated videos, they're often small, poorly placed, and easily cropped out by malicious actors. This isn't about banning technology—it's about understanding what's coming and getting ahead of it through synthetic media policies, verification protocols, brand protection strategies, and especially employee training to help teams identify and respond to AI-generated content.The message is clear: if healthcare organizations don't start preparing now, they'll spend valuable time chasing what's real versus fake—a game bad actors are already playing to win.Remember, Stay a Little Paranoid X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer 

October 8, 2025: Bill Willis, CTO of IDMWORKS, joins Drex DeFord to unpack why healthcare organizations struggle with identity and access management despite having the right tools. Bill reveals how healthcare's seven to eight different user personas create unprecedented complexity compared to other industries, and why most IAM failures stem from data and process issues rather than technology gaps. He explains IDMWORKS' free fireside chat approach to helping organizations visualize their entire identity ecosystem, eliminate password-based authentication vulnerabilities, and recapture help desk resources. Bill also shares his roadmap methodology that prioritizes institutional knowledge and data quality before selecting technology solutions. Key Points: 01:36 Bill Willis' Journey in Identity Management 05:13 The Fireside Chat Approach 09:00 Technology and Process Integration 13:29 Success Stories and Continuous Improvement 23:28 Conclusion and Final Thoughts X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

October 6, 2025: New research reveals an expected 18% reduction in hiring over the next two years, but this isn't about downsizing—it's about strategic reallocation. Bill Willis, CTO of IDMWORKS, joins to discuss these new breaking statistics. With 62% of organizations prioritizing AI skills over traditional development experience, the industry faces a critical choice between reducing headcount or upskilling existing talent. Meanwhile, cybersecurity experts warn that the traditional network perimeter has vanished, requiring a fundamental rethink of identity management and password-free authentication. Discover why data governance has never been more crucial for successful AI implementation and how smart leaders are preparing for this seismic shift in healthcare technology. Key Points: 01:04 Scarcity in IT Hiring 11:38 The Evolving IT Security Perimeter 18:21 HIPAA Security Rule Updates 26:54 Conclusion and Final Thoughts X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

Healthcare security takes center stage as Ascension's 5.6 million patient data breach leads to prolonged legal battles, while OneBlood settles after a ransomware attack that rippled through the blood donation supply chain. Meanwhile, a potential government shutdown threatens to furlough 35% of CISA's workforce, and the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 faces expiration, putting critical public-private threat intelligence partnerships at risk. Drex breaks down the operational, financial, reputational, and legal consequences facing healthcare organizations in today's threat landscape.Remember, Stay a Little Paranoid X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

September 29, 2025: In this episode of Newsday, Drex is joined by Russell Teague of Fortified Health Security for a candid look at the storm brewing in healthcare IT. From the promises and pitfalls of AI to the growing sophistication of cyber threats, they explore how health systems are balancing innovation with risk. The conversation dives into financial pressures, shifting reimbursement models, and the tough choices CIOs and CISOs are facing as budgets tighten. With insights from the front lines, this discussion sheds light on how leaders can think differently, consolidate wisely, and prepare for the challenges reshaping healthcare cybersecurity.X: This Week HealthLinkedIn: This Week HealthDonate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

September 26, 2025: George Pappas, CEO of Intraprise Health by Health Catalyst, joins This Week Health for the News. Together, they unpack the Salesforce breaches that turned cybersecurity companies into victims and the explosion of personal injury lawyers now chasing data breach cases. With class action lawsuits up fivefold and cyber insurance policies being voided for non-compliance, they explore whether Epic's bold new AI platform strategy could be the answer—or create even bigger problems. As state cyber funding expires and critical infrastructure remains vulnerable, George tackles the uncomfortable question: in a world where everything connects to everything else, who's really watching the watchers? Key Points: 00:53 Discussing SBOM Guidance 09:22 Salesforce Security Issues 15:04 State and Local Government Security X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

The US Secret Service dismantled a covert communication network in New York City featuring 300+ SIM servers and over 100,000 SIM cards capable of overwhelming cellular networks. Drex explores the implications of this "fake telephone warehouse" discovered near the UN General Assembly, discussing how commodity hardware can create denial of service attacks against cellular infrastructure. Key takeaways include the need for healthcare organizations to develop cellular disruption scenarios in incident response plans, maintain alternative communication channels like landlines and satellite phones, and coordinate with carriers on network anomaly notifications.Remember, Stay a Little Paranoid X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

September 23, 2025: Sahan Fernando, CISO at Rady Children's Health San Diego, reveals the split-second decisions that keep pediatric healthcare running while under attack. Navigating the stark reality that children's hospitals face the same sophisticated threats as major health systems but with a fraction of the resources, Sahan unpacks how forcing threat actors into high-visibility channels might be the key to catching them faster. Can Health ISAC bridge the massive gap between well-funded health systems and struggling critical access hospitals when developing cybersecurity standards that actually work? Key Points: 09:10 Challenges and Innovations in Pediatrics 17:24 Data Retention and Security 21:43 Managing Systemic Risks in Healthcare IT 29:26 Cybersecurity in Healthcare: Past and Present 35:45 Ransomware Attack: Decision-Making and Response X: This Week Health LinkedIn: This Week Health Donate: Alex’s Lemonade Stand: Foundation for Childhood Cancer

September 22: Today on Newsday Sarah and Drex speak with Jacob Hansen, Chief Product and Technology Officer at AvaSure, about virtual care, AI, and more from the news. Jacob highlights the company's focus on inpatient care, virtual observation, and AI solutions. They address the rising expectation for tangible ROI from EHR AI projects, the importance of pilot studies, and the role of virtual care as critical infrastructure in healthcare. Additionally, the conversation delves into strategic approaches to optimizing existing technology in rural hospitals and the necessity for structured governance and clinical change management in implementing new tech solutions.Articles discussed in this episode:https://thisweekhealth.com/news_story/hospital-ceos-demand-strategic-impact-from-ehr-and-ai-investments/https://thisweekhealth.com/news_story/commonspirit-health-pioneers-ai-adoption-in-healthcare-boosting-earnings-by-100m/https://thisweekhealth.com/news_story/wickenburg-hospital-boosts-efficiency-with-strategic-ehr-optimization-initiative/