Closing the Cyber Gap Without Hiring a Full Time CISO

About this episode

Phil Sobol discusses cybersecurity challenges faced by rural hospitals with Chris Riha, emphasizing the importance of a fractional CISO model and preparation against cyber threats.

Rural hospitals are not too small to be targeted. In fact, they are often more vulnerable. In this episode of The CereCore Podcast, Phil Sobol sits down with Chris Riha, Senior Cybersecurity Advisor at CereCore, to talk about one of the biggest risks facing community hospitals today: cybersecurity. Chris brings a rare operator perspective. He spent more than 14 years inside Carilion Clinic leading clinical systems and medical device security and previously worked with the US Army Medical Department and MITRE. He understands both the operational realities of hospitals and the growing sophistication of cyber threats. They discuss: • Why rural hospitals are often targeted • The real impact of cyber incidents on communities • What a fractional CISO model actually looks like • How tabletop exercises build confidence and muscle memory • Federal and state funding opportunities many hospitals overlook Chris shares a powerful story of a critical access hospital that survived a cyber incident thanks to preparation, but not without significant strain on a very small IT team. If you are a rural CEO, CIO, board member, or healthcare leader trying to balance limited resources with growing…

People in this episode

Host: Phil Sobol

Guest: Chris Riha

Topics covered

• cybersecurity
• rural hospitals
• fractional CISO model
• cyber threats
• community impact
• IT resources

Keywords

• cybersecurity
• rural hospitals
• CISO
• cyber threats
• IT team
• federal funding
• tabletop exercises

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CereCore, Carilion Clinic, US Army Medical Department, MITRE

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