Overview
Accenture, Dragos, and the SANS Institute have announced the Community Cyber Resilience Foundation, a $10 million private-sector initiative to help under-resourced utilities strengthen their cybersecurity.
Program Details
- Funding: $10 million, invested jointly by the three companies.
- Scale: The first phase covers up to 500 US utilities, including water, wastewater, electric, and natural gas providers with less than $100 million in annual revenue. The companies say this group makes up 97 percent of utilities, and the program may expand depending on its success.
- Cost and terms: All support is free with no time limit on participation. No federal or state government is involved.
What Participants Receive
| Partner | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Dragos | Tools that identify devices on a utility's network and flag vulnerabilities |
| Accenture | Deployment, configuration, and ongoing support |
| SANS Institute | Training to build staff capabilities |
| Elastic | Technical support to help scale the program |
Members also join a peer network to share best practices and operational experience.
Quotes
Dragos CEO Robert Lee said attackers are "aggressively targeting utilities," and that the foundation "gives the utilities that need it most access to cybersecurity resources and training at no cost."
SANS Institute CEO James Lyne said, "The best security technology in the world won't protect a utility" if staff cannot use it, underscoring the training component.
Why It Matters
Small water and power providers often lack the budget for OT asset visibility, monitoring, or dedicated security staff, yet operate systems that communities depend on. Asset discovery and vulnerability visibility are foundational steps, and bundling tooling with deployment help and training addresses the usual gap between buying a product and actually using it.
Eligible utilities should watch for enrollment details from the foundation.