Ping, Cloudflare, and Crowdstrike Offer Free Cybersecurity to US Hospitals and Key Utilities

Ping Identity is teaming up with Cloudflare and Crowdstrike Holdings to protect key infrastructure in the United States. To that end, the three companies have created a new Critical Infrastructure Defense Project that will provide eligible establishments with free cybersecurity services.

The program is primarily a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) has warned that the conflict increases the threat of cyberwarfare, which could spill over and have a disruptive impact on American businesses outside the combat zone. The Agency noted that American infrastructure is vulnerable, as demonstrated in the SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline attacks that created resource shortages and supply chain issues within the country.

With that in mind, CISA has issued a Shields Up advisory to encourage businesses in the US to remain vigilant, and to take extra precautions to guard against cyberattacks. The alliance between Ping, Cloudflare, and Cloudstrike is designed to make it easier for businesses to meet that request. In that regard, Ping will supply eligible businesses with identity verification technology, while CrowdStrike provides endpoint protection and Cloudflare supplies the Zero Trust security framework to hold it all together.

The Critical Infrastructure Defense Project is being pitched to hospitals and essential utilities like water and power plants. Interested businesses can visit the project website to find out more about Zero Trust security protocols, and to view a checklist that details the steps they can take to implement those practices in their own operations. The checklist has immediate day-to-day recommendations, as well as more long-term objectives to pursue in the months ahead. The project is being carried out in collaboration with partners in the public sector.

“We rely on our infrastructure to power our homes, to provide access to water and basic necessities, and to maintain critical access to healthcare,” said Cloudflare Co-founder and CEO Matthew Prince. “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.”

“With heightened targeting risk on our critical infrastructure, strong identity is more important than ever,” added Ping Identity Founder and CEO Andre Durand. “We are honored to partner with Cloudflare and CrowdStrike as a part of a comprehensive security offering at no cost.”

The news comes shortly after the release of Ping’s no-code DaVinci offering for building user workflows. The company’s PingFederate and PingAccess solutions were added to the DHS Approved Products List in July of 2021.

–

March 24, 2022 – by Eric Weiss