Less than a quarter of rural hospitals have used a new program that provides free cybersecurity assistance from Microsoft and Google, Nextgov/FCW reported.
About 350 of 1,800 small and rural U.S. hospitals have accessed the cybersecurity help that launched in June, according to a Sept. 3 update by White House deputy national cybersecurity advisor Anne Neuberger covered by the news outlet. Those facilities span from Maine to Texas and across the Midwest.
As healthcare cyberattacks proliferate, rural hospitals have been found to be more vulnerable because of their lack of proximity to other medical facilities and dearth of cybersecurity funding. The White House partnered with the Big Tech companies to boost rural hospital cybersecurity.
Microsoft is offering grants and up to a 75% discount on cybersecurity products for critical access and rural emergency hospitals and a free year of cybersecurity for larger rural hospitals already using its services, as well as no-cost cybersecurity assessments, training for frontline and IT staff, and Windows 10 updates for one year.
Google is extending complimentary endpoint security advice and funding support for software migration, and started a pilot program of cybersecurity products tailored to rural hospitals.