Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

MultiCare Health CISO Jason Elrod on Need for Faster Cyber ResilienceEmerging AI tools can identify and exploit software vulnerabilities within minutes, forcing healthcare organizations to rethink cyber strategies. Jason Elrod, CISO of MultiCare Health System, explains why exploitability management, microsegmentation and AI-driven resilience matter more than ever.

Déjà Vu: Is Mythos in Hands of Bad Actors Akin to Cobalt Strike, Brute Ratel Abuse?Anthropic's Claude Mythos and similarly powerful artificial intelligence tools pose elevated cyber risk to the healthcare sector, warns a new report. Addressing the onslaught of newly discovered bugs will require healthcare organizations to evolve their vulnerability mindsets.

AI Tool Used to Discover Bugs, Which Included 2 Maximum Severity VulnerabilitiesResearchers at security firm AISLE said they recently identified 38 vulnerabilities, including two maximum-severity zero-day flaws in OpenEMR, an open-source electronic medical record software platform used by about 100,000 healthcare providers globally. OpenEMR has patched the problems.

UPGRADE and DigiSeals Programs at ARPA-H Remain Fully FundedA U.S. federal grant effort to develop autonomous medical device patching platforms for hospitals evaded the budget-cutting knife of the Trump administration. Program boosters hope to automate cyber defenses so that hospitals of any size can more quickly patch vulnerabilities.

Is AI Exposing a Growing Vulnerability Risk Mitigation Gap?AI-fueled tools can help to identify medical device vulnerabilities much faster and at a higher volume than more traditional tools. But can device manufacturers and healthcare delivery organizations keep up with prioritizing and addressing a tidal wave of newly discovered flaws?

Vulnerability Affects Certain Centricity Medical Imaging ProductsThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a recall notice for certain GE Healthcare Centricity medical imaging products due to a "potential" cybersecurity vulnerability that could allow a hacker to manipulate data or impact availability of the affected products.

Long-life medical devices - products typically used for a decade or longer - are among the most post-quantum, cryptographically vulnerable technologies in healthcare, said Joern Lubadel, global head of product security at German-based medical device and healthcare products maker B. Braun.

Critical Vulnerability Could Give Attackers Foothold in Clinical NetworksFederal authorities and industry officials are urging healthcare sector entities to address a critical flaw in BeyondTrust Remote Support and Privileged Remote Access software, which if exploited, could give an attacker a foothold inside a hospital or clinic network.

Access, Vulnerability Management, Configuration LapsesA federal watchdog agency inspection of information security at the VA health system in Spokane, Wash. last year found deficiencies across three areas - configuration management, vulnerability management and access controls - that could potentially put sensitive data at risk, a new report said.

Experts: Problems Are Frequent Weaknesses Across Healthcare Sector EntitiesSecurity weaknesses in web-facing apps used at a large U.S. hospital could leave the facility's IT systems and sensitive patient information vulnerable to cyberattacks, found federal auditors. Those same problems also haunt many other healthcare entities, experts said.

Trellix Says Email, Identify Failures Are Among Top Vectors in Health CompromisesOf the millions of threats detected in healthcare IT environments last year, email phishing, identity failures and device vulnerabilities were among the top vectors for non-clinical IT compromises - often "cascading" and disrupting patient care, said a new report from security firm Trellix.

The Next Major Cyber Risk Could Come Through a Biological SampleResearchers demonstrated that it is feasible to encode executable payloads into synthetic DNA that, once sequenced and processed, could trigger malware in sequencing software. When a vulnerability in a sequencer becomes a vulnerability in national health or food security, the stakes are existential.

Mirion Medical Says Bugs Are Fixed in New Release of BioDose/NMIS SoftwareU.S. federal authorities are warning that several high-severity vulnerabilities discovered in Mirion Medical Co. inventory tracking software used by nuclear medicine departments could allow attackers to modify program executables and gain access to sensitive information.

Agency Warns Vertikal Systems Vulnerabilities Could Help Hackers Access DataU.S. federal authorities are warning about vulnerabilities in hospital information management systems from Romanian firm Vertikal Systems that could allow hackers to obtain and disclose patient data. The affected systems are used mostly by smaller hospitals and clinics outside the United States.

Reduced Staffing Disrupts Regulatory Work, Leaves Health Entities More VulnerableIf it lasts much longer, the federal government shutdown could prove to be highly disruptive, risky and increasingly unnerving for healthcare sector providers that depend upon federal agencies for cybersecurity-related support and resources, some experts said.

Recent advisories from U.S. federal authorities on vulnerabilities in certain operational technology devices underscore the potential security risks that many healthcare providers frequently underestimate, said Sila Özeren, a security research engineer at Picus Security.

Oslo University Hospital CSO Torkel Thune on Nordic Threat LandscapeTorkel Thune, head of the department for architecture, operational IT security and chief security officer at Oslo University Hospital, discusses how global shifts are affecting cybersecurity for the Nordic region, and how healthcare is especially vulnerable.

Recent advisories from U.S. federal authorities on vulnerabilities in certain operational technology devices underscore the potential security risks that many healthcare providers frequently underestimate, said Sila Özeren, a security research engineer at Picus Security.

Cierant Corp. Says Cleo MFT Zero-Day Exploit Compromised Health Plan Client DataA Connecticut-based firm that provides print and electronic document management services to health plans has reported to regulators that an exploit of a vulnerability in file transfer software from third-party vendor Cleo has resulted in a health data compromise affecting nearly 233,000 people.

Pharmaceutical companies typically have more mature cyber programs than other healthcare factions, but these firms also face unique risks involving their large attack surfaces, complex manufacturing, supply chains and sensitive intellectual property, said Joshua Mullen of Booz Allen Hamilton.