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As Western companies continue to break ties with the Russian State (as an extension of the sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and NATO), three U.S. cybersecurity companies in the U.S. are addressing the ongoing threat of potential cyber-attacks in the U.S. by making their platforms available to critical infrastructure entities, including the energy and healthcare sectors.
Crowdstrike (endpoint protection), Ping Identity (two-factor authentication) Cloudflare (DDoS attack protection, amongst other tools) are making their services available for free to high-risk, critical infrastructure such as utilities and hospitals. As CISA Director Jen Easterly once said: “Many organizations, both public and private, are target-rich and resource-poor.” This private-sector initiative complements the efforts made by CISA to collaborate with the private sector by way of the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) and the Shield’s Up initiative. CISA has also made tools available for free by way of The CISA Online Resource Hub.
In an announcement in early March, the companies announced that they would make their services available to hospitals to protect against the crisis-level frequency of ransomware attacks directed at health care entities in the U.S., especially by non-state and state actors affiliated with Russia. Early in the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian ransomware gang Conti declared its fealty to Russia, which was swiftly met with retaliation by a Ukrainian member of the Conti gang (who released the internal text communications of the Conti gang to the public).
“’It’s just hospitals, power, and water right now,’ Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince told The Washington Post. ‘We built the list in consultation with industry and government experts to protect the most vulnerable and currently under-protected sectors. We may expand to other sectors in the future if there’s need.’” (1)
“The program is open to any size organization, as long as it is not already a customer, and there is no limit on the number of participants, the companies said. The services range from multifactor authentication for log-ins to protection from denial-of-service attacks (DDoS). ‘The goal is to provide a complete kit of the best security practices,’ Prince said. ‘We’ve also designed a checklist based on what an organization should do immediately, within the next week, and within the next month to help triage the work.'” (1)
The initiative is called the Critical Infrastructure Defense Project. The website provides the following overview of the project:
In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, national security experts have highlighted the increased risk of cyber attacks and have urged organizations to adopt a heightened cyber security posture. All organizations should be prepared for increasingly frequent and sophisticated attacks with goals that include stealing data, compromising applications, and shutting down networks and devices.
To address this threat, leading Zero Trust cyber security providers have partnered to launch the Critical Infrastructure Defense Project. Our goal is to quickly improve the cyber readiness of vulnerable infrastructure in US critical industries—hospitals, energy utilities, and water utilities—by providing eligible organizations free services and support.
The combination of cyber security capabilities offered by the project enables a robust Zero Trust defense-in-depth approach that can be implemented quickly.
Cloudflare is offering 4 free months of these enterprise-level services, plus support, to hospitals, energy utilities, and water utilities:
To apply: Rapidly Improving Cyber Readiness for US Critical Infrastructure | Cloudflare
CrowdStrike is offering 4 free months of these services, plus support, for hospitals, energy utilities, and water utilities:
To apply: CrowdStrike Critical Infrastructure Protection
Ping Identity is offering 4 free months of these services, plus support, for hospitals, energy utilities, and water utilities:
To apply: Critical Infrastructure Defense (pingidentity.com)
For an overview of the project and the initial checklist compiled by the companies for what they describe as “what an organization should do immediately, within the next week, and within the next month to help triage the work, see Critical_Infrastructure_Defense_Project_Guide.pdf.
The initial press release announcing the project can be found at Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, and Ping Identity Join Forces to Strengthen U.S. Cybersecurity in Light Of Increased Cyber Threats.
In the current climate created by the viable threat of a Russian cyberattack on the U.S., if you are preparing your organization or your individual household to mitigate risk please see OODA CTO Bob Gourley’s Guide For Business: Final checks for reducing risks in the face of nation-state cyber-attacks based on White House advisory. In the post, Bob itemizes OODA recommendations for:
OODA is here to help. OODA members can contact us by replying to any of our emails or using this form.
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At Black Hat 2021, CISA Director Jen Easterly launches CISA JCDC (Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative)
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About the Author
Daniel Pereira is research director at OODA. He is a foresight strategist, creative technologist, and an information communication technology (ICT) and digital media researcher with 20+ years of experience directing public/private partnerships and strategic innovation initiatives.
Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence
Informing your decisions with actionable intelligence