Center For Internet Security Funds No-Cost Service to Help Protect all U.S. Private Hospitals Against Ransomware
The Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting Service is also available to all U.S. public hospitals via no-cost membership in the MS-ISAC.
EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y., Feb. 17, 2021 – The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS®) is launching a no-cost ransomware protection service, Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting (MDBR), for private hospitals in the U.S. today.* CIS is fully funding this service for all private hospitals in the U.S. as part of its nonprofit mission to make the connected world a safer place. The service is already available for all public hospitals, health departments, and healthcare organizations through the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). MS-ISAC funding for public hospitals is provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Ransomware has emerged as the largest cyber threat facing hospitals today, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ransoms demanded from cybercriminals to unlock systems and files have exceeded millions of dollars. In some cases, patient care has even been delayed or cancelled due to locked-out digital medical records and treatment regimens.
Protecting against the threat of ransomware is now a top priority for hospitals and systems. Especially in the time of COVID, when you have to act fast and information is paramount, this new service can serve as a critical component of hospital security.
The MDBR service is being offered from CIS with the support of technology partner Akamai, the world’s most trusted solution for securing and delivering digital experiences. The service leverages Akamai’s Enterprise Threat Protector edge security service which proactively blocks network requests from an organization to known harmful web domains, helping limit infections related to known malware, ransomware, phishing, and other cyber threats.
MDBR can help protect hospital IT systems against ransomware attacks by stopping them before they occur. To learn more and sign up for CIS’s MDBR service for U.S. private and public hospitals visit: https://www.cisecurity.org/hospitals/
The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS®) is launching a no-cost ransomware protection service, Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting (MDBR), for private hospitals in the U.S. today.* CIS is fully funding this service for all private hospitals in the U.S. as part of its nonprofit mission to make the connected world a safer place. The service is already available for all public hospitals, health departments, and healthcare organizations through the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). MS-ISAC funding for public hospitals is provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Ransomware has emerged as the largest cyber threat facing hospitals today, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ransoms demanded from cybercriminals to unlock systems and files have exceeded millions of dollars. In some cases, patient care has even been delayed or cancelled due to locked-out digital medical records and treatment regimens.
Protecting against the threat of ransomware is now a top priority for hospitals and systems. Especially in the time of COVID, when you have to act fast and information is paramount, this new service can serve as a critical component of hospital security.
The MDBR service is being offered from CIS with the support of technology partner Akamai, the world’s most trusted solution for securing and delivering digital experiences. The service leverages Akamai’s Enterprise Threat Protector edge security service which proactively blocks network requests from an organization to known harmful web domains, helping limit infections related to known malware, ransomware, phishing, and other cyber threats.
- 4,200+ known malware domains
- 500+ known phishing domains
- 15 known command-and-control (C&C) domains
Recognizing the heightened cyber threat against the U.S. healthcare system and the crucial importance of protecting and maintaining patient care and operations, CIS and Akamai are offering this service at no cost to the following U.S. based health care organizations:
- Independent hospitals
- Multi-hospital systems
- Hospital-based integrated health systems – an organization, consisting of one or more hospitals plus at least one or more groups of physicians, that provides a continuum of care and that are connected to each other through joint ownership or joint management
- Post-acute patient care facilities
- Psychiatric, rehabilitation, or other specialty hospitals
CIS and Akamai encourage all U.S. hospitals to use MDBR and embrace a broader risk management approach to cybersecurity.
“Protecting the U.S. healthcare system against prevalent cyber threats should be viewed as a patient safety, enterprise risk, and strategic priority,” said Mattison. “Proven cybersecurity defenses should be installed into existing enterprise, risk management, governance, and business-continuity frameworks.”
MDBR is an effective and easy way to implement tools in the defense-in-depth or multi-layered approach to cybersecurity best practices that can help prevent cyber threats against hospital systems before they start.
About CIS
The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS® ) makes the connected world a safer place for people, businesses, and governments. We are a community-driven nonprofit, responsible for the CIS Controls® and CIS Benchmarks™, globally recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data. We lead a global community of IT professionals to continuously refine these standards to proactively safeguard against emerging threats. Our CIS Hardened Images® provide secure, on-demand, scalable computing environments in the cloud. CIS is home to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (MS-ISAC® ), the trusted resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) government entities, and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (EI-ISAC® ), which supports the cybersecurity needs of U.S. elections offices. To learn more, visit CISecurity.org or follow us on Twitter: @CISecurity.
Contact: Barbara Ware
* While MDBR was offered at no cost to U.S. private hospitals for a limited time, that offering has been discontinued in favor of MDBR+, a low-cost, cloud-based secure DNS service that provides real-time reporting, custom configurations, and off-network device protection. Learn more about MDBR+ here. MDBR and MDBR+ are both available to U.S. public hospitals.