The order doesn’t apply to the National Security Agency or intelligence efforts.
Mr. Hegseth’s order is part of a larger re-examination of operations against Russia, The New York Times Times reported, as the Trump administration aims to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Russia has continued efforts this year to “penetrate U.S. networks,” according to the report.
Cyberattacks linked to Russian hackers hit hospitals and healthcare companies across the U.S. in the last year, causing EHRs to go offline, HIPAA violations and revenue cycle disruptions.
Multiple hospital C-suites and leaders have mentioned heightened awareness of how the geopolitical landscape affects cybersecurity in interviews with the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast” in recent weeks. Steve Ramirez, chief information security and technology officer at Reno, Nev.-based Renown Health, mentioned cybersecurity is evolving along with efforts to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Recent threat intelligence showed some threat actors are using Western-friendly countries to spawn attacks
“Our whole geo-fencing and external blocking strategies have to really be a little bit more strategic on people taking advantage of the old ways to make sure that we’re doing right by the organization and staying up on those conflicts as well as the HIPAA security rule,” said Mr. Ramirez.