The Shadowserver Foundation, a nonprofit security organization, works behind the scenes to make the internet more secure for everyone. I am very proud to announce that Avast is funding the foundation with $500,000, the largest single donation in 2020.
Avast believes that partnering with others to improve cybersecurity is critical to the cybersec community. Combining forces is paramount in fighting against bad actors, cybergangs, and nation-states from spreading their malware. For more than a decade, Avast has partnered with Shadowserver by sharing threat intelligence with the foundation by allowing them to use our AV scanner. Shadowserver collects intelligence from various players in the cybersecurity industry, and runs their own scans and honeypots, all to reveal security vulnerabilities, combat malicious activities, and help victims. When Shadowserver put out their urgent call for funding, we started assembling resources.
Shadowserver works together with industry sectors, national CSIRTS, and law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI, Interpol and Europol, providing access to invaluable critical data. The Foundation scans the entire IPv4 internet on a daily basis, operates a sinkhole infrastructure, and runs large-scale networks of honeypots and honey clients to collect threat intel. Additionally, they store collected raw data, analyze malware, and keep samples up-to-date by reprocessing malicious samples every 90 days subscribers to Shadowserver receive free daily reports on threat insights.threat insights.
Cybersecurity is essential in today’s tech-first world, and Avast is committed to contributing to all causes that support the improvement of security measures. While sharing data and insights is important and fundamental to Shadowserver’s efforts, we are also fully aware that non-profits depend on financial donations to operate. We feel it is our obligation to help maintain organizations that share our mission to keep the online world safe and secure, a goal that is best achieved working together.
