Secure Health Project: Free General Cybersecurity Practices

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Small and medium-sized medical practices can now access cybersecurity for free thanks to a new initiative that aims to defend clinics against data breaches, ransomware attacks, phishing scams and insider threats.


The partnership between San Francisco-based IT company Cloudflare and The Critical Infrastructure – Information Sharing and Analysis Center (CI-ISAC Australia) was announced earlier this week and will provide Zero Trust security practices for free as part of its new initiative : Project Secure Health.


“GP clinics are the first points of contact for caring for our health, but they are often left unprotected and with limited resources available to protect the significant amounts of patient data they hold,” said Steve Bray, Director of Cloudflare ANZ.


“With this program, Cloudflare ensures that Zero Trust features are accessible to the small organizations their communities rely on most. »


Project Secure Health offers general practices with 50 or fewer employees access to:

• Cloudflare Gateway, reducing risk against crippling internet threats by preventing staff from accessing harmful or inappropriate content, like ransomware or phishing sites
• Cloudflare Access, which manages user access and applies multi-factor authentication to internal applications, minimizing the risk of unauthorized user access.
• CI-ISAC Intelligence, bespoke threat intelligence products and services, informed by observations across Australia’s critical infrastructure sectors.

Dr David Adam, RACGP Expert Panel Member – Technology and Practice Management, said: newsGP This announcement represents a “surprising but positive” development, as cybersecurity represents a “real challenge” for general practices.

“Practice owners and managers may want to take this opportunity to review their existing arrangements and decide whether they can save money and potentially improve their preparation by taking up this offer,” he said.

“Access to threat intelligence is something that most firms will rely on their IT vendors for, and CI-ISAC’s services will enable our vendors and management teams to be better informed.

CI-ISAC Australia is a not-for-profit organization that aims to help build collective defenses of critical infrastructure to protect it against crippling cyberattacks.

As part of the new initiative, CI-ISAC Australia is offering eligible GP clinics free ongoing membership, which will enable them to understand and proactively respond to healthcare-specific cyber threats.

The not-for-profit entity will also provide practices with accessible and actionable information on cyber threats specific to healthcare entities in Australia.

“Australia’s GP clinics are the foundation of local community health,” said David Sandell, CEO of CI-ISAC.

“These small, vitally important organizations serve the primary health needs of our society (and, as such, are the collection point for a large amount of sensitive patient information.”

“However, despite their critical nature, GP clinics are generally under-resourced and struggle to provide even basic cybersecurity resources. This is where CI-ISAC’s collective approach can enable GPs to improve their cyber resilience and protect patient data. »

Meanwhile, Cloudflare is used by more than 20% of the entire Internet for its web security services, and in the first quarter of 2024, it is estimated to have blocked an average of 1.1 billion cyber threats per day alone. Australia.

“Cloudflare Access is a good candidate to replace existing VPN software and benefit from better usability and performance, as well as the potential for stronger security guarantees,” said Dr. Adam.

“I certainly think our cabinet will consider this as an option in the near future.”

General practices interested in participating in Project Secure Health can contact CI-ISAC at [email protected].

The RACGP Information security in general practice also contains useful advice for anyone considering their current situation and potential changes.

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Australia Cybersecurity Phishing Ransomware CI-ISAC Cloudflare

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