Hospitals, small businesses, teachers and students provided free access to CIRA cybersecurity services

Ottawa, April 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Canada's internet copes with the unprecedented effects of the COVID-19 crisis, today, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is providing free access to its cybersecurity services and infrastructure to help those institutions and businesses that need it most.

Starting today, all hospitals, healthcare faculties, and small businesses will be able to protect their infrastructure from cyber-attacks with six months of free access to CIRA DNS Firewall. Unfortunately, hackers are taking advantage of some of our most vulnerable institutions in this challenging time and CIRA would like to lend its expertise and infrastructure to help protect them.

In addition, CIRA is providing early access to a new free service, CIRA Canadian Shield, for all healthcare workers, small businesses and educational institutions to protect their personal devices and home networks while working and learning remotely.

Key facts

• All hospitals, healthcare facilities and medical clinics in Canada can add CIRA DNS Firewall to their networks and devices for free until September 30, 2020.
• All small businesses and non-profits with fewer than 100 employees can protect their business with free access to CIRA DNS Firewall until September 30, 2020.
• All healthcare workers, teachers, students and remote employees will also receive early access to CIRA Canadian Shield—a free DNS firewall to protect their personal devices and home networks from malware and phishing attacks.
• CIRA is also opening up access to a free Cybersecurity Awareness Training course for remote workers as well as students and teachers who are learning from home.
• CIRA DNS Firewall is powered by CIRA's extensive Canadian DNS footprint and enhanced by Akamai's global DNS threat feed, which blocks 1 million new domains every month for customers in Canada.

For more information on these initiatives, please visit: cira.ca/protect-canada

Executive quotes

"Canada's internet is holding strong against this unprecedented situation. Unfortunately, bad actors will always try to exploit a crisis. As such, CIRA is extending access to the infrastructure and tools we use to keep the .CA domain system safe to those who are helping to keep Canada running."

-- Jacques Latour, chief technology officer, Canadian Internet Registration Authority 

"The internet has proven to be a critical lifeline for both Canada's economy and society during these trying times. CIRA is proud to do what we can to help protect our critical services and small businesses from cyber-criminals attempting to take advantage of a difficult situation."

-- Mark Gaudet, business leader, cybersecurity products, Canadian Internet Registration Authority

Additional resources

• Learn more about CIRA Canadian Shield
• Learn more about CIRA DNS Firewall
• Read about how CIRA supports Canada's internet
• Read the 2019 CIRA Cybersecurity Survey

About the Canadian Internet Registration Authority

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) manages the .CA top-level domain on behalf of all Canadians. CIRA also develops technologies and services—such as D-Zone DNS Firewall—that help support its goal of building a better online Canada. The CIRA team operates one of the fastest-growing country code top-level domains (ccTLD), a high-performance global DNS network, and one of the world's most advanced back-end registry solutions.

Spencer Callaghan
Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA)
613-316-2397
spencer.callaghan@cira.ca

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.