At the 2025 Cyber Security in Healthcare Conference, we welcomed cybersecurity professionals across Canada to discuss what keeps them up at night.
We also tackled the crisis facing Canadian healthcare and offered bold, actionable strategies to rebuild trust, resilience, and purpose. Here’s a closer look at the delegate-favorite sessions.
The Human Side of Cybercrime
Chris Mathers, a Former RCMP Undercover Operative, delivered a gripping session on the human side of cybercrime.
“Hackers don’t break in. They log in.”
Mathers highlighted that healthcare’s biggest cybersecurity threat isn’t necessarily weak technology; it’s people.
Through social engineering tactics like phishing, pretexting, and impersonation, attackers manipulate employees into giving up access without ever touching a firewall.
Mathers delivered impactful examples and scenarios where poor training, faulty management, and a lack of internal communication posed risk.
As a result, the main takeaways were:
Cybercrime Is Evolving Fast
Traditional crimes such as theft and extortion are now executed globally using advanced digital tools through ransomware and deepfakes.
Healthcare Is A High-Value Target
Hospitals face attacks from both organized crime and nation states due to their critical systems and valuable patient data.
Human Error Is The Weakest Link
Cybercriminals exploit stress, distraction, and trust through social engineering, often more effectively than through technical hacks.
Photo of Chris Mathers, Former Senior Undercover Operator, RCMP
To close off the session, Mathers concluded that “It’s not a question of if someone tries. It’s when—and whether your people catch it in time.” The session served as a powerful reminder that in healthcare, cyber resilience starts with the people on the front lines.
Rethinking the CISO Role in Healthcare
Photo of Jessica C. Ojiaku, Data Privacy Associate, Pharmaceuticals
Jessica C. Ojyaku, a Data Privacy Associate for a major pharmaceuticals organization, took the stage at the Cyber Security in Healthcare Conference with a clear mission: to reframe how we view leadership, resilience, and purpose in healthcare cybersecurity. In her session, “Beyond Firewalls: The Expanding Role of CISOs and the Talent Crisis in Canadian Healthcare Cybersecurity,” she challenged attendees to look past the technical tools and focus on the people behind the systems.
Throughout the talk, Ojyaku walked us through solutions rooted in empathy and strategy, including hybrid clinical-tech roles, mission-driven recruitment, flexible work options, and clear career pathways. She emphasized that retention isn’t just about salaries, and to quote, “Sometimes, all someone needs is a title that reflects the work they’re already doing.”
“When patients lose trust, care suffers. When staff burn out, breaches go unnoticed. This isn’t just about firewalls—it’s about people.”
The Breach Brief
To wrap up Day One, a panel of healthcare cyber leaders, including Brendan Kwolek, Lyn Baluyot, Kopiha Nathan, and Stephen Lloyd, came together for a fireside chat to debrief on what stood out. FMFA gaps and messy offboarding to under-resourced clinics and stubborn vendor challenges, the message was clear: We’re still stumbling over the basics, but there was optimism too.
Here are the main takeaways:
Cybersecurity Is Now A Business And Patient Safety Priority
The conversation has shifted from tech tools to governance, risk management, and the critical connection between cybersecurity and quality patient care.
Basic Security Controls Still Lag; And That’s A Big Problem
Despite years of awareness, gaps in MFA, onboarding/offboarding, and endpoint protection persist, often due to a lack of enforcement, audits, or vendor accountability.
Collaboration And Real-World Practice Are Essential
Panelists stressed the need for resource-sharing between organizations, better cyber training tailored to healthcare, and frequent, realistic downtime drills, including how to use paper-based backups.
The panel agreed that cybersecurity is finally being seen as part of patient safety, not just tech. The big takeaways? Share more, train smarter, and double down on the fundamentals. The future isn’t about more tools, it’s about stronger teams.
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