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19 March 2020

Bitdefender is Committed to Aiding Healthcare Professionals as Attacks Quadruple During COVID-19 Pandemic

Bitdefender, a leading global cybersecurity company protecting over 500 million systems worldwide, today announced that they will offer  enterprise-grade security solutions free of charge to all healthcare organizations worldwide, in an effort to contribute to the global support effort during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Healthcare organizations of all sizes, from small dental and ophthalmic practices to large hospitals, can visit www.bitdefender.com/freehealthcaresecurity to request free access to Bitdefender’s products. For large organizations, Bitdefender will also offer their professional services and advanced technologies like network traffic security and analytics. 

Bitdefender telemetry shows that the number of malicious reports related to COVID-19 has increased by more than 475 percent so far in March. By the end of the month, attacks are expected to increase by more than five times the total of incidents in February. The largest number of malicious reports have been registered in the United States, Turkey, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Romania and Thailand, as these malware campaigns have focused on the countries with a high number of positive coronavirus cases. 

“Hackers have acted opportunistically and unethically, taking advantage of this time of uncertainty to deliver malware, conduct phishing, and perform online fraud against the organizations affected most,” said Florin Talpes, Bitdefender’s CEO. “We are thankful for the work of healthcare professionals worldwide and aim to support them by providing protection for their organizations’ sensitive information in a way that assures operational continuity and lets them focus on treating patients and slowing the spread of this virus.”

This is not the first time Bitdefender has been involved in helping communities at large. Since 2013, the Romanian-based company has been working with TechSoup – a non-profit international network that provides technology assistance services and NGO validation. As of 2020, the Bitdefender charity program offered security software at zero-cost to protect more than 16,000 NGOs in 106 countries across the globe.

Access to Bitdefender’s enterprise security solutions will be offered through the end of June to start, with the opportunity to evaluate organizations’ need and extend access for up to a total of 12 months at that time. 
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