With hackers targeting hospitals and other medical service providers during the global coronavirus pandemic, the importance of cybersecurity has never been more critical.

Cybersecurity firm Emsisoft has teamed with incident response company Coveware Inc. to offer free assistance to hospitals and other healthcare providers who are targeted with ransomware attacks.

“Without a global pandemic, a ransomware attack on a critical care facility can cause grave danger to patients,” Emsisoft said in a blog post today. “With COVID-19, a ransomware attack on an overwhelmed hospital could tip the balance and result in a significant loss of life.”

With that in mind, the two companies are offering free help for the duration of the crisis. Free services offered include technical analysis of ransomware, development of a decryption tool whenever possible and, as a last resort, ransom negation, transaction handling and recovery assistance.

Their services may well be called upon. Emsisoft believes that ransomware attacks are likely to spike in the coming weeks since traditionally the attacks are seasonal, increasing in the northern spring and into summer. Added to the mix is that attacks may be more pronounced because of security weaknesses resulting from work-from-home arrangements, personal device usage and staffing shortages.

“In short, we may be looking at a near-perfect storm in which healthcare providers are disrupted at the very time they are needed the most,” the company noted.

A similar initiative was launched in the U.K. under the banner of investment firm C5 Capital March 16. In that case, C5 Capital portfolio companies IronNet Cybersecurity Inc., Enveil Inc., 4iQ Inc., Blue Cedar Networks Inc., Haven Cyber Technologies and Haven’s ITC Secure subsidiary are offering cybersecurity free to hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities in the U.K. and Europe to help them fend off hackers.

Image: Emsisoft