Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, and Ping Identity join forces
Cloudflare, a website security company, CrowdStrike Holdings, a leader in cloud-delivered protection of endpoints, cloud workloads, identity and data, and Ping Identity, a leader in identity authentication, authorisation, and risk solutions for large enterprises, have announced a new Critical Infrastructure Defense Project to provide free cybersecurity services to particularly vulnerable industries during this time of heightened risk.
The project is designed to enhance defences against critical areas of enterprise risk. Under the project, eligible organisations will have access to the full suite of Cloudflare zero-trust security solutions, endpoint protection and intelligence services from CrowdStrike and zero-trust identity solutions from Ping Identity.
In addition, in collaboration with core partners across the public sector, the project will also offer an easy-to-follow roadmap that businesses in any industry can use to implement step-by-step security measures to defend themselves from cyberattacks.
Providing zero-trust models
The security features available to organisations through the Critical Infrastructure Defense Project provide a zero-trust model for securing networks, endpoints and identities of organisations and critical threat intelligence for teams at risk of attack. Hospitals and water and power utilities in the U.S. are encouraged to apply to be part of the programme.
“We rely on our infrastructure to power our homes, to provide access to water and basic necessities, and to maintain critical access to healthcare. That’s why it’s more important than ever for the security industry to band together and ensure that our most critical industries are protected and prepared,” said Matthew Prince, co-founder and CEO of Cloudflare. “We are honoured to come together with CrowdStrike and Ping Identity during this time of heightened security risk to protect our nation’s most vulnerable infrastructure.”
Protecting critical infrastructure
“This is first and foremost a public service initiative to secure the endpoints and data of some of the most important critical infrastructure entities in the country,” said George Kurtz, CEO and co-founder of CrowdStrike. “We are in a position to help and we want to do all we can. Today, CrowdStrike is offering two no-cost capabilities in endpoint protection and intelligence services to help critical organisations in the U.S. better protect themselves against evolving threats and ensure critical functions for Americans are not disrupted.”
In February 2022, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) issued a ‘Shields Up’ advisory to urge all U.S. businesses to take steps to prepare for potentially disruptive cyber activity in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
As the Sunburst attack, which triggered a large-scale supply chain incident affecting thousands of organisations, and Colonial Pipeline incident, resulting in the shut down of its pipeline for five days, have demonstrated, attacks on U.S. infrastructure can have widespread impact on businesses and citizens alike.
"With heightened targeting risk on our critical infrastructure, strong identity security is more important than ever,” said Andre Durand, CEO and founder of Ping Identity. “We are honoured to partner with Cloudflare and CrowdStrike as a part of a comprehensive security offering at no cost. Together we stand strong in keeping our nation and infrastructure secure."
