Industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos on Wednesday announced that it’s offering free operational technology (OT) security software and other resources to small electric, water and natural gas utilities in the United States through its Community Defense Program.
The Community Defense Program was launched as a pilot last year and it’s now being expanded, enabling US-based utilities that have an annual revenue of less than $100 million to benefit from Dragos technology at no cost.
Participating utilities will be given indefinite access to the Dragos Platform, which provides OT network visibility and monitoring capabilities, enabling organizations to inventory their assets, detect threats, manage vulnerabilities, and conduct threat hunting.
The Community Defense Program also offers enrollment into the Neighborhood Keeper collective defense and community-wide visibility solution, as well as Dragos’ OT-CERT, which provides free ICS/OT cybersecurity resources.
Utilities are also being offered access to training materials, including general training and classes, and instructions for using its platform.
“Governments and large infrastructure providers are heavily investing in industrial cybersecurity, but small utilities that deliver critical services to the majority of people haven’t been able to do the same,” said Dragos CEO Robert Lee.
“Their resource constraints are uniquely challenging because their budgets are not only smaller, but often they face other restrictions, such as regulation by public utility commissions which assess expenses and determine allowability of cost recovery for investments such as cybersecurity costs. They often don’t have the resources to buy foundational tools, like the Dragos Platform, to help defend their infrastructure,” Lee added.
Dragos announced the expansion of its program just days after the US government announced that multiple water facilities in the country were targeted in recent weeks by hackers affiliated with the Iranian government.
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