The subject of how information security impacts different industry sectors is an intriguing one. For example, how does the finance industry fare in terms of information security compared to the health sector, or the entertainment business? Are there some sectors that face greater cyber-threats and risks than others? Do some do a better job of keeping data secure, and if so, how and why?
Security vendor Kaspersky has become one of the latest in a series of companies to provide free support for businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic in announcing that it is making it’s core endpoint security products free for medical organizations in order to help them stay protected from cyber-threats during the crisis.
Kaspersky is offering its full list of B2B products, which will be available to healthcare organizations free-of-charge for six months.
Continuity of operations and data protection is extremely important for healthcare organizations at all times, but particularly critical in the current situation when medical companies are under extreme pressure and have to mobilize all their forces to help people.
“In this critical situation, healthcare institutions are under immense pressure and carry huge responsibility while saving people’s lives and fighting against the infection,” said Evgeniya Naumova, vice-president of the Global Sales Network at Kaspersky. “Doctors, nurses and all medical staff take on most of the load and therefore need any support possible. We feel that it is our duty to support the medical community.”
“In order to help these organizations focus on what matters most, we now offer healthcare institutions free licenses for key Kaspersky corporate products for a six-month period.”
Along with this initiative, Kaspersky has also advised medical institutions to follow cybersecurity practices and implement the following measures as soon as possible:
- Schedule basic security awareness education for both medical personnel and administration employees
- It is the right time to check the hospital’s protection solution, make sure it is up-to-date, configured properly and covers all employees’ devices
- Ensure all specific medical devices are properly configured and updated, such as ventilators
- Some hospitals need to urgently hire new staff which means growing the number of endpoints, including new employees’ personal devices. This can damage visibility and control over corporate IT, so IT services should pay special attention to adding protection to these new devices
- Make sure current security solutions enable purchasing of enough licenses for increasing numbers of devices