Healthcare’s Cybersecurity Imperative: Vince Crisler on Risk, Resilience, and the Rise of Surgical Containment — Celerium - August 1, 2025
By Staff Reports - August 1st, 2025
Healthcare organizations are grappling with an intensifying cybersecurity crisis. Sophisticated ransomware groups, vulnerable legacy systems, expanding digital footprints, and limited security resources have combined to create what some experts call a “perfect storm” of risk exposure. To explore how providers can better protect themselves, BizTechReports spoke with Vince Crisler, Chief Strategy Officer of Celerium, a cybersecurity firm focused on automated detection and surgical containment of cyber threats.
Crisler brings a unique perspective shaped by years of service in U.S. military cybersecurity, his tenure as Chief Information Security Officer at the White House, and leadership roles in cybersecurity startups. His view is clear: traditional defense strategies are no longer enough. Healthcare organizations must shift toward proactive risk management and operational resilience.
This interview has been edited for clarity and structured into four key executive focus areas: Strategic Assessment, Operational Impact, Financial Implication, and Technology Management. Together, these insights highlight a path forward for healthcare leaders confronting today’s dynamic and dangerous threat landscape.
Here is what he had to say:
STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT
BTR: How do you assess the overall cybersecurity posture of the healthcare sector today?
Crisler: The healthcare sector is in a uniquely challenging position. Most organizations are focused on patient care, safety, and operational efficiency — as they should be. But that focus often means cybersecurity gets treated as an afterthought or something delegated solely to IT.
We see outdated systems running on unpatched operating systems, critical devices connected to networks without segmentation, and limited oversight on what’s being plugged in and how it’s being protected. The attack surface is massive and poorly defended in many cases.
To make matters worse, attackers understand this. They’re entrepreneurial, sophisticated, and focused on making money. Healthcare data is some of the most valuable on the black market — not just because of PHI, but because attackers know healthcare organizations are under pressure to maintain uptime and may be more willing to pay ransom to restore operations.
Leadership in healthcare is starting to wake up to this reality. Cybersecurity isn’t just an IT issue. It’s a business risk that touches every part of the organization — clinical operations, finance, reputation, and even patient safety.
BTR: What mindset shift do executives need to make?
Crisler: They need to see cybersecurity the way they see clinical risk management. You don’t have to be a doctor to understand clinical protocols, and you don’t have to be a technologist to understand cyber risk.
Risk management is a leadership function. Executives should be asking: What would happen if this system went down? What’s the business impact if this data is compromised? And how do we balance investment against risk mitigation?
If healthcare leaders start asking those questions, they’ll be much better positioned to manage the threat landscape — even without deep technical expertise.
OPERATIONAL IMPACT
BTR: How are cyber threats changing the way healthcare organizations think about operations?
Crisler: Cyberattacks are no longer rare or isolated events. According to Forescout, healthcare organizations experienced more than two data breaches per day in 2024, with ransomware consistently ranked as the leading cause of those incidents (Industrial Cyber). That frequency is shocking — and it shows that operational impact is no longer a hypothetical risk.
When ransomware hits, it doesn’t just lock up files. It can take down critical systems, disrupt patient care, delay surgeries, and even affect life-saving medical devices. We’ve seen cases where entire hospital networks had to revert to pen and paper or turn away patients.
That’s why operational resilience needs to be part of the cybersecurity strategy. Organizations can’t afford to shut everything down when a threat is detected. Surgical containment gives them a way to isolate the bad actors and maintain essential services.
BTR: How does surgical containment change the response model?
Crisler: Traditional incident response often means taking affected systems offline — a strategy that might work in a manufacturing plant but is disastrous in a hospital. Surgical containment lets you isolate attacker infrastructure while keeping your critical systems operational.
It’s a mindset shift from “stop everything” to “contain the threat without stopping care delivery.” Our approach works by monitoring network traffic, detecting anomalies, and then automatically blocking known malicious IP addresses — all without disrupting business-critical functions.
The goal is to make containment precise and effective, so patient care doesn’t suffer when an attack happens.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATION
BTR: What financial risks are most concerning for healthcare leaders today?
Crisler: The financial impact of a breach can be devastating. According to the IBM 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average cost of a healthcare data breach is $9.77 million — the highest across all industries (IBM Report). That figure includes direct costs like ransom payments, remediation, legal fees, regulatory fines, and indirect costs like lost business, reputational damage, and patient attrition.
And it’s not just about the cost of breaches. The operational downtime, potential lawsuits, and long-term erosion of trust can be even more damaging. When your ability to deliver care is compromised, it affects everything from reimbursements to community reputation.
BTR: How are ransomware economics driving security investment decisions?
Crisler: Ransomware is a business for attackers — and a very profitable one. Microsoft reports that 67% of healthcare organizations were hit by ransomware in 2024, and 53% of those paid ransom demands, averaging $4.4 million per payout (Microsoft Security Insider).
Attackers are getting smarter. They research your cyber insurance policies, calculate how much you’re likely to pay, and adjust their demands accordingly. They’re reinvesting their profits into more sophisticated attacks — sometimes using AI-driven tools themselves.
For healthcare leaders, this means cybersecurity is not just a technical or compliance issue. It’s a bottom-line issue. Investing in proactive defense and containment is often far cheaper than paying a ransom or dealing with the aftermath of a major breach.
TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
BTR: What makes surgical containment practical for resource-constrained healthcare organizations?
Crisler: We designed surgical containment with ease of deployment in mind. Our system integrates directly with existing firewalls — no need for expensive new hardware or endpoint agents. Most organizations can start seeing results within 30 minutes of setup.
We leverage firewall logs and SaaS-based analytics to detect anomalies in near real-time. That means even smaller organizations with limited security staff can gain enterprise-grade threat detection and containment without massive operational disruption.
BTR: How do you address concerns around alert fatigue and AI integration?
Crisler: Alert fatigue is real — and dangerous. Most security tools overwhelm analysts with false positives, which can cause real threats to be missed. Our focus is on reducing noise by filtering out non-actionable data and providing clear, contextual alerts that security teams can act on.
We use AI in specific, value-driven ways. For example, AI helps translate raw data into human-readable insights and supports anomaly detection with machine learning models like random cut forest. This helps reduce false positives and prioritize real threats.
But AI isn’t a magic bullet. We’re careful not to overhype it. It’s a tool — and when applied correctly, it can dramatically improve both detection accuracy and operational efficiency.
Closing Thoughts
Healthcare leaders today face a cyber threat environment unlike anything the sector has seen before. Attackers are organized, opportunistic, and leveraging both traditional ransomware tactics and advanced AI-powered tools. As Vince Crisler highlights, this isn’t a problem that can be solved with traditional perimeter defenses or reactive incident response plans.
The stakes are high — financially, operationally, and reputationally. A single breach can cost millions, erode patient trust, and jeopardize care delivery. The move toward proactive, surgical containment strategies marks a fundamental shift in how healthcare organizations must approach cybersecurity.
By integrating surgical containment with existing systems, investing in automated threat detection, and fostering a culture of risk awareness at the executive level, healthcare providers can strengthen their resilience against inevitable attacks.
Assuming breach and planning for operational continuity is the only way forward. Surgical containment doesn’t just protect data — it protects the financial health of organizations that millions depend on for care.