Rilian Partners with the White House Office of the National Cyber Director and South Carolina to Protect Rural Hospitals

Groundbreaking Project Aims to Protect Critical Infrastructure from Cyberattacks

Rilian’s participation in Project Lifeline 250 increases company’s commitment to secure critical infrastructure as attacks escalate at home and abroad

NEWBERRY, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rilian, a leading provider of AI-native cybersecurity and defense technology solutions, today announced an expansion of its commitment to secure critical infrastructure by partnering with the U.S. Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) on a pilot program to protect rural hospital systems in South Carolina. Collaborating with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Governor Henry McMaster, and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Initiative, the pilot will strengthen protection against cyberattacks and improve resilience for South Carolina’s rural hospitals. Rilian brings deep expertise in agentic systems integration and a single command layer with the tools and intelligence feeds needed to secure critical infrastructure.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center named healthcare and public health as the top targeted critical infrastructure sector for cyberthreats in its 2025 Annual Report, reporting 642 total cyber events. Rural hospitals are particularly vulnerable to attack due to limited resources and staff, which often results in significant impact to patient access to care and hospital operational effectiveness. A recent cyberattack in Falls City, Nebraska required a community medical center to shut down its computer network after being compromised, causing damage to computer systems and creating significant delays in treatment.

To combat this national cybersecurity threat, the ONCD and HHS have announced Project Lifeline 250 to bring cutting-edge technology to healthcare infrastructure in targeted pilot programs and then scale successful best practices and solutions across communities nationwide. Foundational to this effort is to deploy Super Intelligence-integrated solutions across rural healthcare IT and OT environments to meet AI-powered cyberthreats at machine speed. The South Carolina pilot builds on the success of Project Watershed 250, a cybersecurity pilot program launched in Texas to protect water and wastewater utilities from cyberattacks and foreign adversaries.

“Rilian is proud to participate in this pilot program in South Carolina for Project Lifeline 250, securing healthcare and public health systems with agentic intelligence and a single command layer to protect vital access to rural healthcare,” said Christian Schnedler, co-founder and CEO of Rilian. “Defenders across all industries are outnumbered, understaffed, and fighting a battle on multiple fronts that requires powerful, intelligent solutions to fight back. Rural hospitals are often the only lifeline for miles, and a single cyberattack can shut down emergency rooms, delay surgeries and put patients at risk.”

“I commend each of the leaders here today for recognizing this threat early. Their foresight in securing these systems protects not just data, but lives, and sets an example for other states to follow,” Schnedler continued. “Uniting with Director Cairncross, Governor McMaster, Chief Counselor Klomp, and other technology leaders today to announce this important initiative and pilot project signals an increase in Rilian’s commitment to do everything we can to secure America’s critical infrastructure.”

Rilian’s Caspian platform arms organizations with agentic security orchestration to execute their mission with automated workflows and spend less time navigating fragmented systems. By combining sensor telemetry, threat intelligence enrichment, and closed-loop detection into a single command environment, Caspian is purpose-built for critical infrastructure defense. Rilian can empower rural hospitals to fill gaps in their networks and systems and repel attacks before they happen, aligning to the White House’s Cyber Strategy for America and Executive Order 14409 to promote artificial intelligence innovation and security.

Sean Cairncross, White House National Cyber Director

“President Trump and his entire Administration remain committed to strengthening and modernizing facilities and technology, and deploying innovative care models that bring high-quality health services to rural communities nationwide.”

Governor Henry McMaster, South Carolina

“Cyber threats are a rising challenge to our nation’s security, and we must remain vigilant to protect the systems our communities depend on. Project Lifeline 250 is another important step toward ensuring South Carolina’s rural hospitals have the resources they need to defend against cyberattacks and continue providing critical care. We are grateful to President Trump, the White House and our private-sector partners for working with us to strengthen our defenses and better protect rural communities across South Carolina.”

Chris Klomp, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Chief Counselor

“Here in South Carolina, we have a unique opportunity ... to build a model that every rural hospital across the entire country, can rely upon and build themselves to share best practices, to collaborate, to do what the healthcare industry does so well, which is come together to care for our most vulnerable in their greatest time of need and uncertainty.”

For more information about Rilian’s agentic security orchestration platform to protect critical infrastructure, visit https://www.rilian.com/#caspian.

About Rilian

Rilian is an agentic systems integrator built for the era of AI-native security. Its platform, Caspian, gives defense and security teams a single command layer across their entire stack: pre-trained agents automate analyst workflows while capturing institutional knowledge and democratizing access to it across the organization. As an agentic systems integrator, Rilian also brings deep expertise in the tools and intelligence feeds needed to secure critical infrastructure from today's threats. Rilian integrates these tools through Caspian and deploys them into air-gapped, sovereign, and compliance-restricted environments in days, not months or years. Founded by lifelong practitioners, our mission is to enhance global security by promoting cutting-edge cyber and defense capabilities among the U.S. and its allies. Learn more at Rilian.com.