Category: Innovative Technologies
Cybersecurity companies joined forces to protect hospitals from cyberattacs at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic
March 2020. While the world’s healthcare systems were seriously put to the test, multiple European countries encountered cyber-attacks directed towards those same vital systems. As healthcare personnel started to work from home, healthcare organizations became more vulnerable to cybercrime. The Hague-based cybersecurity company EYE realized that action was required to prevent additional pressure on our vital care providers: preemptive protection of their systems against further cyberattacks.
An alliance of cybersecurity companies, collaborating under the flag of ‘The Joined Forces’ was formed urgently to realize this protection of Dutch hospitals and their suppliers. EYE reached out to the cyber expertise centre for healthcare Z-CERT and offered free incident response resources from several cybersecurity companies during the COVID-19 crisis. It resulted in the website wijhelpenziekenhuizen.nl, which translates to ‘we aid hospitals.’
Tesorion and Deloitte joined the coalition without hesitation, and within two weeks, 76 companies, including IBM, Cisco, and Atos, all donated 100 free hours each to healthcare organizations. A total of 7.400 hours of free cybersecurity expertise and incident response was donated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
EYE and Cyberveilig Nederland build the website within 2 working days, including a 24/7 incident response phone line, e-mail and chat capabilities, and several internal communication channels with participating companies using Mattermost and Signal.
All parties will join forces
During the COVID-19 crisis, the coalition of Dutch cybersecurity companies helped Z-CERT to deal with several cyber incidents. As a result, the number of incidents remained low. On July 8, 2020, EYE and Z-CERT announced the initiative’s end, which went into hibernation. All parties have agreed to join forces in case of a new crisis in order to support the Dutch healthcare system.
This article originates from the OneConference e-magazine
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