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Cyber Health Working Group Collaborates to Keep Critical Sector Beating

Kristina Tanasichuk
By Kristina Tanasichuk

In May 2015, the FBI hosted a classified video teleconference regarding prominent cyber breaches that had recently occurred in the healthcare sector. The teleconference was broadcast to all 56 FBI field offices, and healthcare sector partners in each office’s area of responsibility (AOR) were invited to attend. The Washington Field Office (WFO) charged its InfraGard coordinators, FBI Special Agents Amylynn Errera and Kara Sidener, to identify WFO’s partners and hosted approximately 25 individuals from a variety of healthcare-related entities in their office in Manassas, Va.

At the conclusion of the meeting, it was obvious to Errera and Sidener that the attendees hadn’t previously been in touch with each other – and clearly wanted to continue the conversation in order to share best practices, concerns, threat mitigation strategies and more.

Intermittently over the next year, Errera and Sidener hosted in-person meetings for the newly named Cyber Health Working Group (CHWG), inviting subject matter experts to speak to the group on a variety of relevant cyber/IT threats and issues. Recognizing the need to share real-time information regarding a continually evolving cyber threat landscape, Errera and Sidener realized intermittent, in-person meetings were not going to meet the needs of the group.

Errera, in one of her previous assignments in the FBI’s Cyber Division, had worked closely with the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA), a nonprofit partnership between industry and government for the sole purpose of providing a neutral, trusted environment for the two-way cooperation and collaboration to identify, mitigate, and disrupt cyber crime. While in the Cyber Division, Errera witnessed firsthand the benefit of real-time, two-way information-sharing between industry and the FBI that resulted in criminals being arrested, intelligence being shared and networks being better protected. Seeing that as a replicable model for the healthcare and IT sectors, Errera consulted with NCFTA to determine how best to facilitate a similar effort with the local group. NCFTA jumped at the opportunity to get into this space – the intersection of healthcare and IT – and offered to host a list server for the group to provide a forum for real-time sharing.

Errera and Sidener invited any InfraGard member across the country who met the group’s criteria (i.e., in an IT-related role in the healthcare sector with the ability to share threat information and intelligence) to join. The group launched on April 1, 2016, and, in short order, became very active – and NCFTA realized this might be too much for their entity to voluntarily support.

The InfraGard National Members Alliance, through board member Sam Khashman, CEO of Imagine Software, stepped in to support the technical infrastructure and take over function of the list server and a dedicated, secure portal for the group. Since late summer 2016, the CHWG has grown to more than 875 individuals from across the country. The group contains cyber practitioners in a variety of roles to include CISOs, CIOs, network administrators, cyber threat hunters, cyber engineers, cyber infrastructure architects, SOC analysts and more. In addition the group contains a wide-range of healthcare-related organizations and companies: from hospitals and insurance companies, to EHR and medical device companies, to academic and research institutions, the cross-sector representation is impressive.

In addition to the daily, real-time information sharing that occurs, the CHWG has a dedicated portal that archives the list server threads for easy searching, maintains a library of member submissions of best practices and other documents, and hosts a monthly webinar on a topic of interest (some very technical, others more “big picture” focused), which is also recorded and archived on the portal.

To date, the CHWG has contributed to numerous FBI-written intelligence products that have been shared with industry, government, and the U.S. intelligence community. Indicators of compromise and threat information have been shared with multiple FBI field offices, which have identified victim companies, enhanced ongoing investigations, and identified new points of contact for cyber agents and analysts across the country. In one instance, information shared on the CHWG list server actually prevented a company from falling victim to a known cyber actor.

It should be noted that the CHWG does not exist in a vacuum. Since its inception, Special Agents Errera and Sidener have queried the members to ensure the CHWG is not duplicating other similar efforts and, in fact, have regular communication with entities like the National Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the Health Information and Management Systems Society, HITRUST and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Anecdotally, the members have said things like this about the CHWG:

  • “Very informative and I will be implementing a lot of things I have seen here. Great info.”
  • “Excellent information being shared already and building out a folder for all of it as we speak. There is a huge need for this in our industry and truly appreciate those who have put this together.”
  • “I would like to say that I am new to this group and have been very impressed with the information that has been shared thus far. Looking forward to more of the same and the opportunity to learn and share.”
  • “Your working group is working!”
  • “I appreciate this type of information instead. I suggested to my manager that if we showed more of this type of information to the board, maybe they would make sure that security resources were a priority.”
  • “This is, without a doubt some of the most valuable intel I’ve gotten in years, please keep it coming.”
  • “I just wanted to say thank you for all of the work that you’re doing to keep the Cyber Health group growing strong. I really appreciate the sense of community that I feel like we’re growing, which is something that I’ve noticed we’re lacking in healthcare, especially when compared to the financial services folks. So, huge thank you for everything that you’re doing!”

At the request of the members, the CHWG is hosting its first (and hopefully annual) Healthcare CyberGard conference Oct. 25-26 in Charlotte, N.C. Open to members and non-members alike, the agenda promises to have in-depth looks at medical device security, incident response, building a cybersecurity awareness program, authentication and identity, when to call the FBI, how to communicate with your board of directors and more. Find out more here.

Questions about the CHWG? Contact Special Agents Errera and Sidener at [email protected].

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Kristina Tanasichuk
Kristina Tanasichuk
From terrorism to the homeland security business enterprise, for over 20 years Kristina Tanasichuk has devoted her career to educating and informing the homeland community to build avenues for collaboration, information sharing, and resilience. She has worked in homeland security since 2002 and has founded and grown some of the most renowned organizations in the field. Prior to homeland she worked on critical infrastructure for Congress and for municipal governments in the energy sector and public works. She has 25 years of lobbying and advocacy experience on Capitol Hill on behalf of non- profit associations, government clients, and coalitions. In 2011, she founded the Government & Services Technology Coalition, a non-profit member organization devoted to the missions of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and all the homeland disciplines. GTSC focuses on developing and nurturing innovative small and mid-sized companies (up to $1 billion) working with the Federal government. GTSC’s mission is to increase collaboration, information exchange, and constructive problem solving around the most challenging homeland security issues facing the nation. She acquired Homeland Security Today (www.HSToday.us) in 2017 and has since grown readership to over one million hits per month and launched and expanded a webinar program to law enforcement across the US, Canada, and international partners. Tanasichuk is also the president and founder of Women in Homeland Security, a professional development organization for women in the field of homeland security. As a first generation Ukrainian, she was thrilled to join the Advisory Board of LABUkraine in 2017. The non-profit initiative builds computer labs for orphanages in Ukraine and in 2018 built the first computer lab near Lviv, Ukraine. At the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, she worked with the organization to pivot and raise money for Ukrainian troop and civilian needs. She made several trips to Krakow, Poland to bring vital supplies like tourniquets and water filters to the front lines, and has since continued fundraising and purchasing drones, communications equipment, and vehicles for the war effort. Most recently she was named as the Lead Advisor to the First US-Ukraine Freedom Summit, a three-day conference and fundraiser to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of Ukrainian war veterans through sports and connection with U.S. veterans. She served as President and Executive Vice President on the Board of Directors for the InfraGard Nations Capital chapter, a public private partnership with the FBI to protect America’s critical infrastructure for over 8 years. Additionally, she served on the U.S. Coast Guard Board of Mutual Assistance and as a trustee for the U.S. Coast Guard Enlisted Memorial Foundation. She graduated from the Drug Enforcement Agency’s and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Citizens’ Academies, in addition to the Marine Corps Executive Forum. Prior to founding the Government Technology & Services Coalition she was Vice President of the Homeland Security & Defense Business Council (HSDBC), an organization for the largest corporations in the Federal homeland security market. She was responsible for thought leadership and programs, strategic partnerships, internal and external communications, marketing and public affairs. She managed the Council’s Executive Brief Series and strategic alliances, as well as the organization’s Thought Leadership Committee and Board of Advisors. Prior to this, she also founded and served for two years as executive director of the American Security Challenge, an event that awarded monetary and contractual awards in excess of $3.5 million to emerging security technology firms. She was also the event director for the largest homeland security conference and exposition in the country where she created and managed three Boards of Advisors representing physical and IT security, first responders, Federal, State and local law enforcement, and public health. She crafted the conference curriculum, evolved their government relations strategy, established all of the strategic partnerships, and managed communications and media relations. Tanasichuk began her career in homeland security shortly after September 11, 2001 while at the American Public Works Association. Her responsibilities built on her deep understanding of critical infrastructure issues and included homeland security and emergency management issues before Congress and the Administration on first responder issues, water, transportation, utility and public building security. Prior to that she worked on electric utility deregulation and domestic energy issues representing municipal governments and as professional staff for the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce. Tanasichuk has also worked at the American Enterprise Institute, several Washington, D.C. associations representing both the public and private sectors, and the White House under President George H.W. Bush. Tanasichuk also speaks extensively representing small and mid-sized companies and discussing innovation and work in the Federal market at the IEEE Homeland Security Conference, AFCEA’s Homeland Security Conference and Homeland Security Course, ProCM.org, and the Security Industry Association’s ISC East and ACT-IAC small business committee. She has also been featured in CEO Magazine and in MorganFranklin’s www.VoicesonValue.com campaign. She is a graduate of St. Olaf College and earned her Master’s in Public Administration from George Mason University. She was honored by the mid-Atlantic INLETS Law Enforcement Training Board with the “Above and Beyond” award in both 2019 – for her support to the homeland security and first responder community for furthering public private partnerships, creating information sharing outlets, and facilitating platforms for strengthening communities – and 2024 – for her work supporting Ukraine in their defense against the Russian invasion. In 2016 she was selected as AFCEA International’s Industry Small Business Person of the Year, in 2015 received the U.S. Treasury, Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization Excellence in Partnership award for “Moving Treasury’s Small Business Program Forward,” as a National Association of Woman Owned Businesses Distinguished Woman of the Year Finalist, nominated for “Friend of the Entrepreneur” by the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Military Spouse of the Year by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2011, and for a Heroines of Washington DC award in 2014. She is fluent in Ukrainian.

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