Mike Blake/Reuters
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince
- Cloudlfare has created a hub to centralize offers of free tech services to make it easier for companies to access virus-related offers.
- After Cloudflare's CEO reached out over the weekend, Box, Google, GoToMeeting, Microsoft, and Cisco's Webex have also posted offers on the hub.
- Cloudflare also announced Monday it is offering free IT and security support for small businesses.
- A surge in remote workers because of the virus has created increased strain on IT - and new security vulnerabilities.
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Over the weekend, Matt Prince, the CEO of web-based cybersecurity company Cloudflare, picked up the phone and called a few friends to help out with a project addressing small businesses' coronavirus needs. As a result, on Monday a new hub went up online that pulls together offers of free products and services from cloud-computing companies.
"We've gotten to know each over over the past few years, and that allowed us to pull this together quickly," Prince said.
The companies represented now on the hub are Box, Cloudflare, Google, GoToMeeting, Microsoft, and Cisco's Webex, all of which have offered free use of their communication and coworking products in response to the spread of coronavirus. Other companies are invited to apply for the opportunity to offer their services on the hub.
Cybersecurity professionals warn that a surge in remote workers sent home due to the virus is coinciding with increased hacking seeking to exploit the outbreak. To address that issue, Cloudflare also offered small businesses free use of its team products on Monday. Those products replace the on-premise virtual private network (VPN) and firewall security that many companies have in place in the office.
More than 110,000 people have been infected and more than 3,800 have died worldwide. The US has reported 21 deaths.