America’s rural hospitals keep getting attacked by cybercriminals. Microsoft and Google are working to fix that

Microsoft and Google will offer free or discounted cybersecurity services to rural hospitals across the US in a bid to make them less vulnerable to cyberattacks that have disrupted patient care and threatened lives, the White House and Microsoft said Monday.

Microsoft and Google will offer free or discounted cybersecurity services to rural hospitals across the United States to make them less vulnerable to cyberattacks that have disrupted patient care and threatened lives, the White House and Microsoft said Monday. Microsoft said in a statement to CNN that it would provide free security updates for eligible rural hospitals, as well as security assessments and training for hospital staff. Google will provide free cybersecurity advice to rural hospitals and start a pilot program to match the firm’s cybersecurity services with the needs of rural hospitals, Anne Neuberger, the top cyber official at the White House National Security Council, told reporters on Sunday. CNN has requested comment from Google on the new initiative. The nation’s roughly 1,800 rural community hospitals are among the most vulnerable to dangerous ransomware attacks because they often lack IT security resources and cybersecurity-trained staff. And they may be the only hospitals within dozens of miles, meaning a ransomware attack that prevents a hospital from accepting ambulances can put patients’ lives at risk. The new announcement is the result of private discussions between the tech firms and officials at the White House National Security Council who have growing increasingly concerned about cyber threats to hospitals. It’s an effort to use the broad reach of Microsoft and Google’s software, which is used in hospitals across the United States, to help plug a gap in the defense of the health care sector. The Biden administration is also preparing to issue minimum cybersecurity requirements for US hospitals. The details of that proposal have yet to be finalized. But the American Hospital Association, which represents hospitals across the United States, opposes the proposal, saying it would impose penalties on the victims of cyberattacks after they are hacked.