A free service to protect US critical infrastructure against Russian cyber attacks has ended – but did it shut down just a touch too soon?
- Free cyber tools for US critical infrastructure are no longer available
- The project was initially set up after the Russian invasion of Ukraine
- A lack of uptake since then has resulted in the sunsetting of the project
A free cybersecurity service set up to help protect critical infrastructure in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has quietly shut down.
The Critical Infrastructure Defense Project was pioneered by Cloudflare, CrowdStrike and Ping Identity, and allowed organizations in “vulnerable sectors” could access four months of cybersecurity services for free, including a zero trust security model to help US hospitals and water and power utilities secure their networks, endpoints and identities.
The program also offered critical threat intelligence to cybersecurity teams likely to be targeted.
Critical infrastructure protection shuts down
A Crowdstrike spokesperson explained that the project has shut down as its usage has tapered off from the initial threat levels experienced since early 2022.
The services offered by the trio of cybersecurity firms “aligned with a period of initial heightened threats and that its use has since subsided,” the spokesperson told Nextgov/FCW.
The end of the project couldn’t come at a worse time, with the reports suggesting that the Trump administration may have paused efforts to counter Russian cyber operations, and NATO warning Russia is again mapping critical infrastructure including subsea internet cables.
When trying to access the Critical Infrastructure Defense Project, the website now redirects you to the Cloudflare homepage.
Following the recent turmoil in the Middle East, there is a distinct possibility that Iran could ramp up its cyber operations against the US.
Iran has previously targeted critical infrastructure including US water treatment plants on several occasions, indicating that the need for a free cybersecurity program for US critical infrastructure could still remain.
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