Videos From Expo: Cybersecurity in EMS

In April 2017, a cyberattack in Dallas resulted in the city’s 156 emergency sirens blaring for 90 minutes in one of the largest known breaches of a siren warning system, said cybersecurity specialist Frank Gresh during the Data & Technology Summit at EMS World Expo 2017 in Las Vegas.

Gresh started his talk by having everyone in the room take out his or her phone and think about the information stored on it—passwords, bank account info, phone numbers and the like. Because it’s stored on your phone, “everyone else in the room has that information now too,” he said.

Gresh outlined the downsides and risks of modern technology as it specifically pertains to EMS—security breaches of 9-1-1 phone systems, patient information, radio networks and power grid failures, among other vulnerabilities.

"There are attacks every day,” Gresh said.