Accenture, Dragos and the SANS Institute have launched the Community Cyber Resilience Foundation, a nonprofit effort to give small U.S. utilities the operational technology (OT) security resources they often can’t afford. The first phase, backed by about $10 million in combined funding and services, will serve up to 500 utilities at no cost.

The launch follows a recent surge of attacks on more than 100 U.S. water systems across over a dozen states. The companies say small utilities, particularly rural and underserved ones, face tight budgets, staffing shortages and aging technology that leave pumps, valves, substations and distribution networks exposed.

“Many small operators lack the capacity to defend against these threats,” said Robert M. Lee, chairman, CEO and founder of Dragos.

James Lyne, CEO of SANS, stressed the training component: “The best security technology in the world won’t protect a utility if its staff are not able to use it.”

For OT teams, the program covers the full path from visibility to a sustainable in-house defense:

• Visibility and detection: The Dragos Platform, covering asset visibility, continuous monitoring, OT vulnerability management and threat detection.
• Hardware funding: Money to buy the equipment needed to deploy and run the platform.
• Deployment support: Accenture configuration, integration and ongoing support.
• Training: SANS ICS/OT courses to build in-house skills.
• Peer community: Access to a network of utilities sharing operational experience.

U.S. water, wastewater, electric and natural gas utilities with annual revenue under $100 million are eligible. The companies say that threshold covers more than 97% of utilities, or over 50,000 organizations. The effort is built on the Dragos Community Defense Program, which already gives more than 100 utilities free access to the Dragos platform.