Cyber threats don’t just steal data—they halt care, cancel clinics, and shake trust. I sat down with Brent Yax, founder and CEO of Aweccom Technologies to unpack the hard truth: today’s attackers are profit-driven, organized, and focused on disrupting operations until we pay. We trace how the threat landscape shifted from amateur mischief to a mature cyber economy, why small and mid-market healthcare organizations are now prime targets, and what actually works to protect patients and keep the lights on.

Brent shares a frontline view of resilience that blends technology, process, and culture. We get practical about where to start—multi-factor authentication, EDR/MDR, verified payment workflows, and realistic incident response plans that restore services fast. We also talk about the messy side of cyber insurance: why policies push the market forward, how ambiguous questionnaires can void coverage, and why IT, risk, and finance must stay aligned as environments change. The throughline is clear: tools are essential, but people and process failures still drive most breaches.

We dive into AI’s double edge. On defense, AI helps detect CEO fraud by learning language patterns, flags configuration drift across complex stacks, and surfaces risk right after routine changes. On offense, careless use of public AI can leak protected data in seconds. Frank breaks down smart adoption—enterprise controls, clear data policies, and training that meets people where they are. From there, we zoom out to zero trust: assume compromise, minimize privileges, and verify every identity, including AI agents. It’s a journey, but it shrinks the blast radius and boosts recovery when it matters most.

If you care about delivering reliable care in an unreliable world, this conversation gives you a playbook: align the C-suite, test your incident plan, raise your security baseline, and make training universal—especially for executives and help desks. Subscribe, share with a colleague who owns risk, and leave a review with the one control you’re prioritizing next. Your input helps more teams protect patients and stay ready for what’s coming.