Yes!  And actually, this is spelled out in the NEC.  I don't remember exact chapter and verse, but I know it is part of Article 250.

Bless your heart, Dave

We are treading on dangerous ground with this whole topic. The whole subject is like screaming West*n’s name three times to see if he will appear. But to answer your question, in my experience, no. But you can do some things to try to reduce damage or help reduce the odds. Most strikes aren’t going to happen near the wire. But without any protection, I’ve seen lightning run through the ground hundreds of yards through tree roots. And I’ve seen where it has traveled probably a thousand yards down a barb wire fence, then jump to a buried wire where the two paths cross. Usually those strikes are degraded enough that surge protection can help. When I installed invisible fences we saw some amazing damage until Panamax designed a surge protector for the fences. But with close hits the Panamax was usually sacrificed.

Agreed.

Induction is not your friend here. The strike doesn't even have to be that close. You may not even see a failure until many small surges later.

TPD (in earlier post by Don Heany) is my go-to. ITW is also very good. Both companies make products designed for just about every protocol and wiring scheme we work with (IDC Punch-down, RJ-45, RJ-11, RS-232, RS-this, that and the other, Cat5/6, Dog,too, speaker, cameras, lights, action, BNC, gate power, landscape lighting, phone system extensions, gate intercoms and more!)

Most importantly:

1. Use fiber when you have that option. This gets rid of the problem completely.

2. If installing surge protection you should have a surge device at each end of the run.

3. The surge devices should be installed as close to the exit or entry of the structure as possible.

4. The surge device must be grounded to the electrical service ground.

Arlington Industries (my favorite company) makes an awesome box which can be located outside on a wall, fence or free-standing. A little DIN rail and the proper TPD product and you're good to go.

[Link: aimedia.co]

When protecting Ethernet, pay attention to the 10/100/1000 rating because some older devices might not pass 1000.

The most often ignored. Have seen a good many of these pieces just “floating”.

One point that bothers me about all of these devices is that it is difficult to test and verify that a device is still viable. If the shunting to ground path fails open, data and power will get through, but without protection.