More than 1,000 executive leaders from the nation’s top hospitals and health systems convened at the 2023 AHA Annual Membership Meeting, April 23-25 in Washington, D.C.


FBI Director Christopher Wray detailed how the U.S. health care system has become a valuable target for cyberattacks from nation-states and independent cybercriminals, and how hospitals can team up with the FBI to defend against and, ideally, prevent such attacks. “The best time to patch the roof,” he said, “is before there’s a leak.”  

Ransomware attacks have become more sophisticated and expensive, costing hospitals and health systems billions in data recovery and lost work and threatening their ability to provide patient care, Wray said. “Cyberspace today is ripe with technically sophisticated actors looking for vulnerabilities to exploit. What all this translates to is a multidimensional cyberthreat of actors who have the tools to paralyze entire hospitals.” 

He also spoke about violence in the hospital setting and how FBI field offices partner with local hospitals and health care systems to address such wide-ranging issues as mass-casualty incidents, identifying and deterring those who may commit violence in a hospital setting, and active-shooter training.  

“Partnering with the private sector is critical to our mission,” Wray said. “The information you share has real-world impacts and can save real businesses and real lives. You don’t have to wait around until there’s a crisis to call us.” 

For more on the 2023 AHA Annual Meeting, read AHA's coverage.

Related News Articles

Headline
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center released an alert May 7 warning of cyber actors exploiting vulnerabilities in end-of-life routers. Routers dated 2010…
Headline
The FBI’s Internet Criminal Complaint Center May 15 released an alert warning of a malicious text and voice messaging campaign involving impersonators…
Headline
In his latest AHA Cyber Intel blog, John Riggi, AHA national advisor for cybersecurity and risk, examines the state of cyber and physical threats in 2025 as…
Headline
Health care had more cyberthreats last year than any other critical infrastructure industry, according to the FBI's 2024 Internet Crime Report released April…
Headline
Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., spoke to AHA Annual Meeting attendees in a fireside chat moderated by Aishah Hasnie, congressional correspondent for Fox News. Carter…
Headline
In a wide-ranging conversation May 6 at the 2025 AHA Annual Membership Meeting, Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., spoke about the upcoming budget reconciliation…