Small and rural healthcare organizations are among the most vulnerable critical infrastructure organizations in the nation.
The U.S. government will help protect rural hospitals from cybersecurity threats as part of a new pilot program that could generate lessons for how to secure healthcare infrastructure nationwide.
The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Monday launched Project Lifeline 250, a six-month program through which technology and cybersecurity firms will offer free hardware and services to rural hospitals. Partner companies, including Cisco, Cyera, Microsoft, Trellix and Zscaler, will upgrade hospitals’ basic defenses, provide them with backup hard drives in case of outages and help them identify and replace insecure legacy technology.
National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross said in a statement that the Trump administration is “committed to strengthening and modernizing facilities and technology, and deploying innovative care models that bring high-quality health services to rural communities nationwide.”
The program is beginning in South Carolina, where ONCD and HHS are partnering with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s critical infrastructure cybersecurity initiative to arrange the free services for hospitals.
“Cyber threats are a rising challenge to our nation’s security, and we must remain vigilant to protect the systems our communities depend on,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) said in a statement.
Healthcare organizations, especially rural facilities, face severe cybersecurity threats. Hospitals rely on extended supply chains of medical devices and software that are frequently targeted and generally overlooked by security professionals. Their weak security and large troves of sensitive data make them top targets for threat actors, who have disproportionately focused on the sector in recent years.
Chris Klomp, a senior HHS official, said during Monday’s announcement event at Newberry Health in Newberry, S.C., that the average hospital has more than 26,000 internet-exposed devices on its network, underscoring the immense risks and daunting challenges that hospitals face.
Project Lifeline 250 is the second ONCD-led program to connect critical infrastructure operators with free security resources. In August, Cairncross announced Project Watershed 250, focused on water utilities, alongside officials from Texas, the initial participant.
Several of the companies participating in Project Lifeline 250 offered brief descriptions of the services they will offer. Cyera, the maker of a data and identity platform, indicated that it would help hospitals inventory their databases so they understood which sensitive systems needed protection. Security firm Trellix said it would deliver threat detection and response services powered by agentic AI.
Cairncross first announced ONCD’s plans for infrastructure security pilot programs in March, mentioning Texas’s water sector and South Dakota’s beef industry as examples.
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