A number of major cybersecurity companies announced recently that they’re offering free cybersecurity services and support to vulnerable industries for four months, in an action to protect US critical infrastructure.
Under a new Critical Infrastructure Defense Project, companies in highly vulnerable industries such as hospitals and water and power utilities, will have access to the full suite of Cloudflare’s Zero Trust solution, CrowdStrike’s endpoint protection and intelligence services, and Ping Identity’s Zero Trust identity solutions.
The project includes a roadmap with step-by-step security measures that any business can follow to protect themselves from cyberattacks, especially with a cyber war going on recently between several countries over different political and economic frontiers.
Gartner Research Vice President Katell Thielemann noted that similar security offers were made as the Covid pandemic spread. “From the vendor standpoint, they are equal parts altruism and marketing — but these companies should be praised for their efforts to help the community,” she told TechNewsWorld.
“From the end-user standpoint, they can be very helpful, whether to bolster their security posture or to simply try new services,” she added.
“Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, and Ping Identity are the industry leaders in the security space. By providing their solutions to operators at no cost for four months, they are removing one of the common barriers to entry for these companies,” observed Kevin Dunne, president of Pathlock, a unified access orchestration provider in Flemington, N.J.
“However, the biggest barrier to entry is usually the cost and friction to implement these solutions, especially without the required know-how or readiness that often impacts these vulnerable industries,” he told TechNewsWorld.
“So,” he continued, “while not a drawback per se, organizations should understand that receiving the solution at no cost does not mean that they can derive value and protection without cost.”
