{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://benniethompson.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-bennie-g-thompson-announces-new-program-help-rural-hospitals", "Congressman Bennie G. Thompson Announces New Program to Help Rural Hospitals Defend Against Rising Cybersecurity Attacks", "2024-06-10", "2024", "2024-06", "Democrat", "House", "MS", "Bennie G. Thompson", "T000193", "benniethompson.house.gov", "benniethompson", "https://benniethompson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Bolton, MS \u2013 Today, Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (MS02) announced a new cybersecurity program, provided by Microsoft, that will support Greenwood Leflore and Sharkey Issaquena Hospitals in Mississippi\u2019s 2nd Congressional District and better help protect them from cyberattacks. Today\u2019s news was announced in close collaboration with the hospitals, the White House, the American Hospital Association, and the National Rural Health Association.\n\nThis new Microsoft Cybersecurity Program for Rural Hospitals will deliver a range of cybersecurity training, support, and technology services for rural hospitals, available starting today. In 2023, the healthcare sector reported more ransomware attacks than any other critical infrastructure sector, and attacks involving ransomware against the healthcare sector were up 128%. According to the National Rural Health Association, rural health clinics are one of the top targets for cyberattacks.\n\n\u201cWe are now one step closer to ensuring that residents of Mississippi\u2019s 2nd Congressional District receive the same high-quality care available throughout the rest of the state,\u201d said Congressman Thompson.\n\nKey Britt, Greenwood Leflore Hospital VP of Administrative Services stated, \u201cGreenwood Leflore Hospital is constantly fending off cyber threats, both internally and externally. This is becoming increasingly difficult as threat actor tactics and techniques increase in sophistication and are enhanced with machine learning and artificial intelligence. Our cyber security posture is further diminished by a lack of staffing. It has proven extremely difficult to hire staff with the appropriate technical skillset to help protect our technical environment. With that being said, the Greenwood Leflore Hospital Technical Services department would be extremely grateful to Congressman Thompson for helping us participate in the Microsoft Cyber Program. This would allow us to augment our I.T. staff with software and hardware, thus, greatly minimizing our attack surface.\u201d\n\n\u201cRural hospitals such as Sharkey Issaquena Community Hospital have a vital role in providing the necessary care and services in local communities. We have many challenges - with the rising risk of cyber-attacks being a critical concern. We need additional support to guard our systems and patient data. We are grateful for this new program, which will bring cybersecurity training and services to our hospital, and to Representative Thompson for his support commented,\u201d Mr. Jerry Keever, CEO of Sharkey Issaquena Community Hospital.\n\nAs part of the new program, Microsoft will offer free Windows 10 security updates to participating rural hospitals for at least one year and a free cybersecurity assessment and training to help evaluate the day-to-day risks. For independent Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Emergency Hospitals, Microsoft will also provide nonprofit pricing and discounts on its security products, optimized for smaller organizations, with up to 75% savings. Additionally, larger rural hospitals already using eligible Microsoft solutions will receive the company\u2019s most advanced security suite at no cost for one year.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:11:47Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://benniethompson.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-bennie-g-thompson-announces-new-program-help-rural-hospitals"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7682681791484356, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}