Episode 25–Tabletop Drills, Real‑World Outages. With Greg Surla

A cyberattack on a vendor shouldn’t be the moment a hospital learns how interconnected its world really is. We sit down with Greg Surla, Chief Information Security Officer at FinThrive, to unpack how third‑party risk, revenue cycle platforms, and frontline care are woven together—and why resilience depends on planning with partners before the crisis hits. From joint tabletop exercises that include critical vendors to pre-approved workarounds like VDI access and hardened loaner devices, we map the moves that keep care running when networks go dark.

Greg shares blunt lessons from breaches and acquisitions: forgotten cloud servers, weak asset inventories, and the relentless toll of a three‑week ransomware fight. The takeaway isn’t fear; it’s preparation. We dig into ransomware‑specific drills, cyber insurance that funds expert responders, and the automation needed to triage the daily flood of vulnerabilities. We also explore culture as a control, showing how life‑first security education—holiday scams, tax fraud, device safety—builds habits that protect both home and hospital, and creates the groundswell that gets C‑suite support.

As AI supercharges attackers and budget pressures squeeze providers, cybersecurity has to be framed as a business enabler. Secure revenue cycle equals payroll, access to care, and community trust. Greg explains how to translate risk for boards, align controls to clinical and financial goals, and replace reflexive “no” with “yes, if” to stay part of the conversation that shapes strategy. The result is a practical, human playbook for healthcare security: automate the routine, practice the hard days with partners, invest in asset visibility, and collaborate across the industry. Subscribe, share with a colleague who handles vendor risk, and leave a review with your top resilience tactic—we’ll feature the best ideas in a future show.