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Boston Children's CIO to talk Anonymous hack at Privacy and Security Forum

By Gus Venditto

The 47th and final speaker to join the HIMSS Media and Healthcare IT News Privacy & Security Forum in Boston Sept. 8-9 has quite a tale to tell.

Boston Children’s Hospital Senior Vice President and CIO Daniel Nigrin, MD, confirmed Sept. 2 that he will speak at the forum. He’ll discuss his experience defending the hospital’s network last spring against cyber attacks by the renowned hacker group Anonymous.

The forum will be at the Westin Boston Waterfront, Sept. 8-9, and Nigrin will join otherspeakers in sharing best practices, lessons learned, insights and information regarding key issues such as BYOD, insider threats, cybersecurity, medical device security, HIPAA regulations, and 3rd party risk, among others.

[Q&A: True security requires 'a philosophical shift'.]

In April, Boston Children's Hospital was attacked by the hacker organization Anonymous. The assault was aggressive and attempted to penetrate the hospital’s network through spear phishing emails and direct attacks on exposed ports and services.

In his forum case study, Nigrin will recount the attack with all its twists and turns. He’ll explain how his team combatted it, and share best practices and lessons learned in real time. These include understanding your organization’s dependence on email and developing workarounds if it has to be shut down; and planning for the possibility of losing Internet connectivity.

In April, Boston Children's Hospital was attacked by the hacker organization Anonymous. The assault was aggressive and attempted to penetrate the hospital’s network through spear phishing emails and direct attacks on exposed ports and services.

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