How Mastercard & Cloudflare's Pact Targets Cyber Blind Spots

In an era defined by AI-driven cyber threats, strong defence depends on collaboration and strategic partnerships.

Formed with a clear mission to create tools capable of countering these increasingly sophisticated attacks, a new alliance between leading connectivity cloud company Cloudflare and financial powerhouse Mastercard is welcome news for many.

Together, the two organisations will combine their respective security capabilities to protect those most at risk – small businesses, government bodies and critical infrastructure – from evolving online threats, without compromising the pace of innovation.

“For small businesses, critical infrastructure and governments, a cyberattack is more than a technical hurdle – it is an existential threat,” says Stephanie Cohen, Chief Strategy Officer at Cloudflare.

“Often considered ‘target rich but resource poor,’ these organisations are strategic targets and are often attacked at a greater rate than global enterprise or Fortune 500 organisations.

“This partnership brings together the best in cyber defence so that these underserved organisations don’t fall victim to the growing number of cyberattacks.”

A joined security effort 

Public sector organisations typically rely on legacy systems that leave them exposed to cyber attacks through outdated defences.

Small businesses also face risks from third-party vendors that introduce supply chain risks, while shadow IT among employees compounds the challenge.

These vulnerabilities are easily overlooked without comprehensive visibility and monitoring tools, such as those proposed in the Mastercard Cloudflare partnership.

“Improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity and reducing cyber risk is an ongoing, challenging mission,” says Dan Cimpean, Director of the Romanian National Cyber Security Directorate.

“As society and global economies increasingly rely on digital networks, we must combine our efforts across the public and private sectors, across nations and international organisations, to build resilience and prevent cyber incidents. 

“The protection of critical infrastructure is and must be a joint effort."

Mastercard Cloudflare deal

Mastercard’s Recorded Future and RiskRecon offer powerful attack surface monitoring capabilities.

Combined with Cloudflare’s extensive application security portfolio, this will help these organisations strengthen their cyber defences substantially.

Cloudflare and Mastercard aim to safeguard small businesses, critical infrastructure and governments by:

1. Eliminating blind spots: Recorded Future will identify unprotected internet-facing assets, while Cloudflare’s application security immediately secures any such shadow assets
2. Providing real-time view of cyber posture: Organisations gain a comprehensive view of their cyber posture through Recorded Future, complete with an A-F graded security rating – visualised via Cloudflare’s Security Insights dashboard, where threats are prioritised by severity
3. Translating risks to active protection: Organisations can mitigate risks using web application firewalls, encryption or automated defences directly through the Cloudflare dashboard.

This unified solution equips public and private sector organisations with the ability to map, prioritise and automate risk remediation – swiftly identifying and neutralising hidden threats across their digital ecosystems.

“With small businesses accounting for about half of the world’s GDP, closing the resilience gap is critical to securing the foundation of our global economy,” says Johan Gerber, Global Head of Security Solutions at Mastercard. 

“Our collaboration with Cloudflare propels our mission to secure the digital ecosystem in partnership with governments and other key players, empowering businesses to focus on what matters most: their productivity and growth.”