Dispel joins White House rural hospital cyber pilot

Dispel is taking part in Project Lifeline 250, a six-month White House-backed pilot aimed at strengthening cybersecurity and remote access at rural hospitals in South Carolina. The effort is meant to help hospitals protect medical devices, keep critical systems running after attacks, and reduce vendor-access risk.

Why it matters: - Rural hospitals often rely on outside vendors to service connected medical devices, building systems and other operational technology. - That access can create a major cyber risk, especially for lean IT teams with limited visibility into third-party connections. - The pilot is designed to help hospitals secure remote access without disrupting care or changing the hospital network itself.

What happened: - Dispel announced participation in Project Lifeline 250, a six-month pilot led by the White House Office of the National Cyber Director. - The South Carolina Governor’s Office and the South Carolina Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity program are coordinating the effort. - The pilot launched Oct. 26 at Newberry Health. - Dispel is one of several technology companies contributing tools, expertise and resources through its Community Program.

The details: - Project Lifeline 250 is focused on rural hospitals across South Carolina. - The program aims to strengthen hospital network defenses, provide backup technology after a cyberattack and identify high-risk medical and other devices used in critical care settings. - The pilot builds on Project Watershed 250 in Texas and is intended to test security approaches that can scale nationwide. - Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report found third parties were involved in 32% of healthcare breaches. - Dispel will provide secure remote access for medical devices, IoT and building systems to participating hospitals. - The Dispel Zero Trust Engine secures each session from login to disconnect and connects vendors and operators to mission-critical systems. - Dispel says the platform removes persistent attack surface, IT overhead and workflow compromises tied to legacy tools. - The platform combines OT Secure Remote Access, Industrial Data Streaming, Dispel Identity, Dispel Intelligence and Dispel Compliance. - Dispel’s approach is built to make the secure path the fastest path. - The company’s participation is part of its Community Program. - The company will use rapid ringfencing to replace open access with one monitored pathway and no changes to the hospital network. - Each session uses brokered, named, time-bound access with a named user, multi-factor authentication and access scoped to one asset. - Dispel’s Moving Target Defense removes the standing entry point when the session ends. - Device manufacturers, biomed teams and contractors will use the same access method through a browser or virtual desktop. - The system does not require an agent on the device or a VPN client. - Every session is recorded and risk-scored. - Dispel Compliance maps controls to NIST SP 800-53 and IEC 62443-3-3. - Dispel Identity adds NIST IAL2 identity proofing for high-risk sessions. - Rapid-Deploy SaaS is designed to bring multiple hospital sites under one access model instead of one jump host per site.

Between the lines: - The pilot suggests federal and state officials are treating vendor access and device-level visibility as core hospital cybersecurity problems, not side issues. - Dispel is positioning secure remote access as the control point for devices that cannot support agents, multifactor authentication or local logging. - The session-record and compliance features point to a demand for audit-ready security in healthcare, not just access control. - The company is also expanding the same model into public-sector utilities, signaling a broader push beyond healthcare.

What’s next: - Dispel and the other pilot participants will help evaluate which tools and workflows work best for rural hospitals. - The program is expected to inform security approaches that could be expanded beyond South Carolina. - Dispel says interested organizations can learn more or request a demo at the company’s healthcare page. - Dispel also plans to continue its public-sector rollout through its Community Power & Water Program and its FedRAMP efforts.

The bottom line: - Project Lifeline 250 puts secure remote access at the center of rural hospital defense, and Dispel is using the pilot to show its platform can control vendor access without slowing operations.