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Find out how Avast and technology is helping solve COVID-19

Avast has always been driven by a desire to keep people safe, and we believe technology is a powerful force for good. This is why the Avast Foundation is donating $25 million to science and technology initiatives to help combat COVID-19, offering critical financial and practical support to the global scientific and technology community as it focuses on the development of testing, treatments and vaccines to minimize disruption and save lives.

Partnering with experts to harness technology for social good

We are deeply concerned by the escalation of the COVID-19 situation, and that is why we are backing initiatives that take a rigorous, scientific, and systematic approach to solving the crisis. With our donation, we are joining the COVID-Zero Coalition, an initiative coordinated by Wellcome, as we strongly believe in the Coalition’s strategic focus on raising funds for the pursuit of testing and treatments, and for preventing the spread of the virus through vaccine development.

Backing the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator and CEPI

The Avast Foundation is honored to donate $20 million to partner with two of the Coalition’s founding members to help accelerate their programs. Of the $20 million donation, we are allocating $12 million to the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, an initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome and Mastercard, supporting research into the prevention and cure of the virus through rapid testing and the development of new treatments including vaccines.

We are donating $8 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), backing their ‘exit strategy’ to eliminate preventable deaths through the pursuit of testing, treatment and prevention through the timely development of vaccines.

Supporting other technology initiatives and community-based programs

With people risking their lives on the front lines every day, the Avast Foundation is also supporting a number of community-based efforts. We are donating a further $5 million to other scientific responses to the crisis. These include our provision of computing resources for Folding@home’s supercomputing program which seeks to find a cure for the virus. We have also contributed to the development and production of a new prototype lung ventilator.

Using Avast’s expertise and intelligence to thwart COVID-19 related cybercrime

The uncertainty and fear surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a wave of scammers and hackers looking to exploit the situation for their own ends. The Avast Threat Intelligence team set up Coronascam.org to be a source of information on cybersecurity attacks targeting vulnerable users and organizations. 

In addition to this, our researchers are busy helping medical institutions facing critical security threats. Recent examples include combating attacks on medical institutions in Czech Republic including a ransomware attack on a hospital in Brno, and an attempted cyberattack on a psychiatric hospital in Kosmonosy.

Avast employees contribute to community
efforts through personal volunteering

Since the start of the pandemic, Avast employees have also been volunteering their time, technology, and expertise to provide support for local initiatives worldwide. Many of our community efforts have focused on the key locations we operate in. In the Czech Republic, we delivered one million face masks to a wide range of care organizations, NGOs, and medical services who are struggling to source enough protective gear. With our offices closed due to social distancing regulations, we are delivering 1,000 hot meals every day (usually meant for Avast staff) to key workers putting their lives on the line to keep us safe.

Avast employees have also helped create 3D printed face masks for distribution to frontline workers, and cooperated with the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU) to produce full-face masks for medical use. Some of our linguistic experts have been translating medical materials from different languages and sharing them with local hospitals. Additionally, we have supported community schemes, such as helping with food banks in cities like Alameda and Sacramento in the US.

For more information about the Avast Foundation’s wider work in local communities, please visit our website.

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