Health care sector urged to protect systems against Windows vulnerability

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) yesterday urged health care organizations to install patches to protect their Microsoft Windows operating systems and servers against two high-risk remote desktop protocol vulnerabilities known collectively as DejaBlue. As with BlueKeep and WannaCry ransomware, the DejaBlue vulnerabilities are “wormable,” meaning they can spread automatically. The health care sector is vulnerable due to widespread use of legacy systems susceptible to this vulnerability, including embedded systems in medical devices. Newer systems vulnerable to DejaBlue further complicate the attack surface. For more information, see the HHS report. John Riggi, AHA senior advisor for cybersecurity and risk, also is available to answer questions on this and other cyber-related issues at jriggi@aha.org.