Cybersecurity multinational Kaspersky has offered healthcare institutions free access to its cybersecurity business products for six months to help them to deal with the surge in attacks against healthcare institutions and organisations, Kaspersky global sales network VP Evgeniya Naumova says.
"Healthcare organisations are particularly vulnerable. Cybercriminals have long used crisis situations to further their own agendas, and the Covid-19 pandemic is no exception; in the past, we’ve seen similar situations with Hurricane Katrina and the earthquakes in Japan," Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis team director Costin Raiu points out.
Cybercriminals usually try to gather sensitive or scientifically significant information and either hold it for ransom or sell it on the black market. In particular, holding data for ransom is one outcome seen with many hospitals in the past. State actors have also launched attacks against health institutions for purposes of intelligence gathering.
"It is important that these healthcare organisations practice increased vigilance because any type of attack could interfere with them being able to provide critical care for their patients," he says.
Kaspersky is offering free access to its endpoint and cloud infrastructure protection products, including Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business Advanced and Kaspersky Hybrid Cloud Security, SaaS endpoint protection – Kaspersky Endpoint Security Cloud Plus – and protection for Microsoft Office 365 – Kaspersky Security for Microsoft Office 365.
"Continuity of operations and data protection is extremely critical for healthcare organisations. Especially in the current situation, when medical organisations are under extreme pressure and have to mobilise all their forces to help people in this very challenging time. For hospitals and medical institutions, it is important to ensure the stability of medical equipment and that data is constantly available for medical personnel, while also protecting the privacy of their patients’ critical information," Naumova says.