ACCENTURE , Dragos and the SANS Institute have launched a $10 million Community Cyber Resilience Foundation to help under-resourced U.S. utilities defend their operational technology (OT) environments, focusing on water, electric and natural gas sectors. In the first phase, up to 500 utilities based in the United States and with annual revenues under $100 million will receive a package of free security tools, hardware for running the Dragos Platform, deployment assistance, and staff training.
Each participant will gain access to the Dragos Platform and related services, with Accenture handling setup, integration and ongoing support, while SANS will provide ICS/OT security training to the utility staff so they can operate defences internally. The programme also aims to connect participants through a peer network to share operational experience.
The foundation supplements Dragos’s existing Community Defense Programme, which already offers free access to its platform for more than 100 utilities, and builds on Accenture’s broader OT cybersecurity push following its majority stake acquisition of Dragos earlier this year. The organisers say many small utilities struggle with funding, workforce shortages and ageing technology, particularly in rural or underserved areas, and they cite recent attacks on over 100 U.S. water systems as context for the initiative.
The effort targets utilities serving life-sustaining services and seeks to bolster resilience by combining tooling, hardware investment, deployment support and workforce training.