Accenture, Dragos, SANS Institute partner on cybersecurity for underresourced utilities. Published on 10/20/2026 at 04:15 pm EDT - Modified on 10/20/2026 at 04:17 pm EDT By Elias Schisgall Accenture is joining forces with Dragos and the SANS Institute to provide around $10 million worth of cybersecurity measures for utilities in the U.S. The three groups are collectively contributing around $10 million for the first phase of the initiative, which will provide cybersecurity services and training for free for up to 500 under-resourced utilities. The initiative also involves the launch of the Community Cyber Resilience Foundation, a non-profit aiming to fortify the cybersecurity measures of utilities with less than $100 million of annual revenue. The announcement was made following a surge of cyberattacks targeting U.S. water systems in more than a dozen states, the three groups said. "Our work with America's critical infrastructure operators has shown both the gravity of the cyber threats they face and a widening vulnerability gap-between large operators with the resources to invest in cybersecurity and smaller utilities that often lack those means," Accenture Chief Executive Julie Sweet said. Accenture on Tuesday also said it had acquired Avicado, a construction technology consultancy, based in Miami, Fla. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Write to Elias Schisgall at [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires 10-20-26 1614ET (C) Dow Jones - 2026

Dragos expands xOT security platform with NetRise and runZero acquisitions. Dragos, Inc., the global leader in extended operational technology (xOT) cybersecurity, has completed its acquisitions of NetRise and runZero. The transactions follow the completion of Accenture's majority investment in Dragos, providing the company with additional capital and global reach to accelerate the expansion of the Dragos Platform. The combined capabilities are designed to help organizations identify and protect their entire xOT environment, encompassing connected devices, networks, cloud infrastructure, software supply chains, and operational systems. As part of the company's continued expansion, Dragos announced that Robert M. Lee will serve as Chairman of the Board in addition to his position as CEO. Dragos will continue operating independently under its existing leadership team, maintaining the vendor neutrality needed to secure critical infrastructure environments that rely on technologies from multiple providers. The acquisitions bring the full teams from runZero and NetRise into Dragos, including runZero CEO HD Moore, NetRise CEO Thomas Pace, and NetRise CTO and Chief Scientist Michael Scott. They will oversee the integration of their respective technologies into the Dragos Platform while continuing to support their existing customers. "The world's largest companies have invested heavily in enterprise IT security, yet it's their cyber-physical systems that generate revenue and carry national and local security impact," said Robert M. Lee, Chairman and CEO of Dragos. "Organizations across electric, oil and gas, manufacturing, data centers, and other critical infrastructure sectors need to defend every system that can influence a physical process. That extended environment is xOT. NetRise, runZero, and Dragos defend it together." Earlier this year, Dragos acquired Phosphorus to address the billions of connected devices embedded throughout critical infrastructure and other operational networks. The addition of runZero further expands Dragos's asset visibility and exposure management capabilities by incorporating existing IT, OT, and cloud asset information from sources already used by organizations. This enables defenders to establish a more complete view of assets across their xOT environments. NetRise complements these capabilities by providing visibility into the firmware and software operating on connected devices. Its technology can identify risks including outdated software components and hardcoded credentials while helping organizations maintain the documentation necessary to support compliance with NERC CIP, NIS2, TSA directives, and other regulatory requirements. According to Gartner(R), "The bidirectional cyber-physical continuum is facing a significantly expanded attack surface as CPS (Cyber-Physical Systems) increasingly interconnect with each other, with enterprise systems, and externally via internet and wireless connectivity. This effectively dismantles the legacy assumption of air-gapped isolation, which is no longer defensible in today's operational environments." Dragos is also expanding its Board of Directors with new members from Accenture: Harpreet Sidhu, Global Cybersecurity Lead; Luis Luque, Global OT Cybersecurity Lead; and John Coltsmann, Corporate Development. Dmitri Alperovitch, Co-Founder and Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator and Co-Founder and former CTO of CrowdStrike Inc., will also return to the Dragos Board. "Intrusions into OT networks have become a daily reality for critical infrastructure operators given the geopolitical conflicts we've been witnessing around the world in recent years," said Alperovitch. "Cybersecurity for these environments is more than a matter of uptime. It's about whether the lights stay on and the water stays safe when an adversary attacks. Dragos, NetRise, and runZero now give defenders what they've been missing: the right xOT tools for that fight." The acquisitions are also expected to strengthen the Dragos Intelligence Fabric, which incorporates a decade of OT-specific telemetry and incident response expertise into the Dragos Platform. Dragos EmberAI, designed specifically for operational environments, will use the expanded data set to provide analysts with faster and more comprehensive guidance through the Dragos Platform. Dragos will provide additional information about its combined platform strategy, including plans for integrating NetRise and runZero, during a webinar featuring Lee, Moore, and Pace. Register here. About Dragos Dragos is the global leader in extended operational technology (xOT) cybersecurity, delivering on its mission to safeguard civilization. Built for the full xOT environment, or xOT, the Dragos Platform delivers asset visibility, continuous monitoring, OT vulnerability management, segmentation validation, device protection, and real-time threat detection, powered by the industry's most experienced OT threat intelligence and incident response team. Dragos serves critical sectors including energy, manufacturing, water, transportation, data centers, mining, and ports. Privately held and headquartered in the Washington, DC area, Dragos operates globally across North America, EMEA, and APAC. Visit dragos.com.

Dragos buys NetRise and runZero to widen xOT defences. September 22, 2026 Dragos has acquired NetRise and runZero, two companies specialising in firmware and asset visibility, in a move designed to broaden protection across connected devices, networks and industrial systems. The acquisitions follow the completion of Accenture's majority investment in Dragos, which is providing the capital and international reach needed to scale the Dragos Platform. With the deals now closed, organisations gain the ability to monitor and defend their entire xOT environment, covering connected devices, networks, cloud infrastructure, the software supply chain and core operational systems. Alongside the acquisitions, Dragos confirmed that Robert M. Lee has taken on the role of Chairman of the Board, in addition to remaining CEO. The company said it will continue to operate independently under its existing leadership, maintaining the vendor-neutral approach it considers essential for protecting critical infrastructure built on technology from multiple suppliers. runZero CEO HD Moore, NetRise CEO Thomas Pace, and NetRise CTO and Chief Scientist Michael Scott are joining Dragos with their full teams, and will oversee the integration of both businesses into the Dragos Platform while continuing to support their existing customers. The purchases build on Dragos's earlier acquisition of Phosphorus this year, which was aimed at securing the billions of connected devices used across critical infrastructure and operational networks. runZero contributes asset visibility and exposure management capabilities, consolidating existing IT, OT and cloud asset data so defenders gain a fuller picture of their xOT environment. NetRise, meanwhile, brings visibility into device firmware and software, identifying risks such as outdated components and hardcoded credentials, while helping organisations meet compliance obligations including NERC CIP, NIS2 and TSA directives. Dragos is positioned as the leading provider of xOT cybersecurity, working to help organisations in sectors such as electricity, oil and gas, manufacturing and data centres protect the systems that underpin physical operations. The company also announced several additions to its board. Harpreet Sidhu, Global Cybersecurity Lead at Accenture, and Luis Luque, Accenture's Global OT Cybersecurity Lead, are joining alongside John Coltsmann from Corporate Development. Dmitri Alperovitch, co-founder and chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator and former CTO of CrowdStrike, is also returning to the Dragos board. The two new acquisitions are set to expand the Dragos Intelligence Fabric, the company's decade-long repository of OT-specific telemetry and incident response data that underpins the Dragos Platform. Dragos EmberAI, designed specifically for operational environments, will draw on this larger dataset to deliver faster and more detailed guidance to analysts using the platform. Dragos chairman and CEO Robert M. Lee said, "The world's largest companies have invested heavily in enterprise IT security, yet it's their cyber-physical systems that generate revenue and carry national and local security impact. Organizations across electric, oil and gas, manufacturing, data centers, and other critical infrastructure sectors need to defend every system that can influence a physical process. That extended environment is xOT. NetRise, runZero, and Dragos defend it together." Enjoying the stories? Investors. The following investor(s) were tagged in this article.