Microsoft says it is extending its AccountGuard service to healthcare providers and human rights and humanitarian organizations at no cost. The service informs its users when Microsoft detects an attack and provides guidance on stopping it.
The software was initially made for politicians and their staff as they are more susceptible to attacks. However, it will now be available to healthcare providers, human rights and humanitarian agencies.
This is because cybercriminals are now attacking healthcare providers and humanitarian groups amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The attacks have even in some cases delayed COVID-19 testing and limited access to relevant healthcare guidance.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020 was the target of numerous cyber-attacks. The interactive COVID-19 map on John Hopkins University’s website was also a target of malware.
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“Every patient deserves the best possible healthcare treatment, and we all need to thank and applaud the truly heroic work by those risking their own health to help those who are sick. Their work is challenging enough but is being made more difficult by cyber-attacks, now or in the future,” a spokesperson for the company said.
Microsoft says human rights organisations like Amnesty International, Freedom House, and Human Rights Watch have already taken advantage of the offer.
It adds that it had tracked five different state-backed hacking groups attempting to compromise the email accounts at nine prominent human rights organisations almost 1,000 times in the last year alone.
Microsoft explains that AccountGuard will initially be available in the 29 countries where the service already runs. AccountGuard at the moment protects close to 100,000 email accounts.
It has made about 1,450 threat notifications to its existing users. Microsoft reveals that it is also working on using the service to secure voting machines with its ElectionGuard tech.
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