Posts with the tag
“cybersecurity”

Open Letter to Governments, Corporations and Philanthropies

28th August 2024 by Cyber Peace Institute and Wolfgang Jamann

We, the International Civil Society Centre, publish this Open Letter in cooperation with the CyberPeace Institute to Governments, Corporations and Philanthropies.

We represent organisations deeply committed to the public good. Whether addressing humanitarian crises, ensuring access to clean water, combating hunger, providing healthcare in remote areas, fighting violence against women, or combating child sexual abuse and human trafficking, we all face a common threat.

Today, we unite in a collective call to action, urging governments, corporations, philanthropies, and other benefactors to take decisive steps in safeguarding the cybersecurity of the valiant organisations that tirelessly combat the societal challenges we face.

In recent years, the digitisation of our activities has accelerated exponentially. Our organisations, employees, and volunteers are now part of an increasingly complex digital landscape. While this digitisation has significantly enhanced our ability to scale and deploy our missions rapidly, it has also exposed us to a myriad of cyber threats.

The digital domain now also serves as a battleground where our organisations, staff, and those we serve are targeted relentlessly. Whether it is data theft, reputational and credibility damage through disinformation, brutal ransomware attacks on our systems, or attempts to deploy spyware in our infrastructures, we face the most serious threats.

In an environment where resources are stretched and where we want those resources to be focused on the missions we are delivering, it is extremely challenging to keep pace with the evolving cybersecurity landscape. We lack the resources and expertise to undertake the state-of- the-art cybersecurity measures that our mission requires, and even completing basic steps can be challenging in many organisations.

This situation must change. Non-profit organisations stand on the frontlines, offering aid and support to the most vulnerable, yet they face an ever-growing barrage of cyber threats that could undermine their noble missions.

We call for the following measures to bolster the cybersecurity posture of civil society organisations:

  • Access to sustainable funding, through the establishment of a specialised fund, designed to improve the accessibility of cybersecurity tools, services, and platforms that meet our needs, without compromising our operational capacity or our ability to finance our missions.
  • An unwavering commitment from states, coupled with the expertise of cybersecurity experts, to identify and relentlessly pursue malicious actors that target our operations.
  • A public commitment from nation-states to not attack our organisations, including but not limited to, disseminating disinformation about and leveraging spyware against them.
  • Comprehensive public documentation on the human, societal, and environmental impacts of cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns against our organisations fostering a culture of transparency and accountability in cyberspace.
  • Formal recognition of the civil society sector as a global critical infrastructure providing essential support worldwide.

Together, we can create a safer digital environment for those who strive to make our world a better place.

SIGNATORIES

Alistair Davison, Executive Director, Cordoba Peace Institute

Alix Vuillemin, Executive Director, Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice

Andrew McCracken, Global Director, WaterAid International

Ángela María Rosales Rodríguez, Interim CEO, SOS Children’s Villages International

Avril Benoit, CEO, Doctors Without Borders USA

Bogdan Ivanel, Founder & CEO, Commit Global

Carlos Sanvee, Secretary General, YMCA

Caroline Harper, Chief Executive, Sightsavers

Casey Harden, CEO, World Young Women’s Christian Association

Cherian Mathews, CEO, HelpAge International

Ciprian Stănescu, President, Social Innovation Solutions

Daniel Eriksson, CEO, Transparency International

Denton Howard, Executive Director, INHOPE – The International Association of Internet Hotlines

Franziska Heine, Executive Director, Wikimedia Deutschland

Hervé Pichelin, Director, Maison Internationale des Associations (MIA)

James Cowan, CEO, The HALO Trust

Joeri Buhrer Tavanier, Acting Executive Director, Netherlands Helsinki Committee

Julian Newman, Campaigns Director, Environmental Investigation Agency

Julie Jacobson, Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Bridges to Development

Justin Vaïsse, Founder & Director General, Paris Peace Forum

Karin Maasel,  CEO, Data Friendly Space (DFS)

Karin van Boxtel, Director, Both ENDS

Kathleen A. Sherwin, Chief Strategy and Engagement Officer, Plan International

Kiran Nazish, Founding Director, The Coalition For Women In Journalism 

Kirsten Burkhart, Executive Director, AIDS Resource Alliance, Inc.

Liz Hume, Executive Director, Alliance for Peacebuilding

Lydia Foeken, CEO, World Marrow Donor Association

Lysa John Berna, Secretary General, CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation

Maaike van Doorsen, Managing Director, The London Story

Mahdi Yahya, Chairman, Peace of Art International

Mark Jacobs, Managing Director, SEED Madagascar

Marta L. Tellado,  CEO, Consumer Reports 

Melanio Escobar, Executive Director, RedesAyuda

Melchior Lengsfeld, Executive Director Helvetas

Omri Preiss, Managing Director, Alliance4Europe

Paul Ash, Chief Executive, Christchurch Call Foundation

Philip Grant, Executive Director, TRIAL International

Philip Reitinger, President & CEO, Global Cyber Alliance

Pim Kraan, CEO, Save the Children Netherlands

Simon O’Connell, CEO, SNV

Stéphane Duguin, CEO, CyberPeace Institute

Thibaut Bruttin, Director General, Reporters Without Borders

Wolfgang Jamann, Executive Director, International Civil Society Centre

For more information about the initiative, please contact the CyberPeace Institute at media@cyberpeaceinstitute.org.

Cyber Peace Institute

Cyber Peace Institute

Cyber Peace Institute is an NGO, supporting NGOs and other critical sectors, offering free cybersecurity assistance, threat detection and analysis whilst advocating for safety and security in cyberspace.

Wolfgang Jamann

Executive Director

International Civil Society Centre

Dr. Wolfgang Jamann is Executive Director of the International Civil Society Centre. Until January 2018 he was Secretary General and CEO of CARE International (Geneva). Before that he led NGO Deutsche Welthungerhilfe and the Alliance 2015, a partnership of 7 European aid organisations. From 2004-2009 he was CEO & Board member of CARE Deutschland-Luxemburg and President of the CARE Foundation. Previously, he worked for World Vision International as a regional representative in East Africa (Kenya) & Head of Humanitarian Assistance at WV Germany. After his Ph.D. dissertation in 1990 he started his career in development work at the German Foundation for International Development, later for the UNDP in Zambia. As a researcher and academic, he has published books and articles on East & Southeast Asia contributing to international studies on complex humanitarian emergencies and conflict management.


Discover and learn from the Solidarity Playbook on cybersecurity

26th April 2023 by Eva Gondor

Strengthening cybersecurity

With increased digitalisation (international) civil society organisations – (I)CSOs – have faced an increase in digital threats and cyberattacks carried out by malicious actors interested in financial gains and access to sensitive data or identifiable personal information.

In recognition of this growing challenge, we captured case studies on how (I)CSOs responded to cyberattacks and collected lessons on how to better protect organisations online.

Solidarity Playbook case studies on cybersecurity 

The latest edition of the Solidarity Playbook features four case studies of how (I)CSOs dealt with actual cyberattacks. We partnered with the CyberPeace Institute to showcase these case studies and provide insights into how (I)CSOs can prevent and mitigate similar incidents.

Regaining access to a social media account 

Resisting six weeks of sustained phishing attacks

Deflecting a sophisticated brute-force and phishing attack 

Retrieving access to a hacked IT server  

Cybersecurity needs to be a shared responsibility – it requires attention across the whole organisation and cannot be borne only on the shoulders of IT staff.

 

 Facing cybersecurity challenges: Lessons learned and opportunity areas

Visit the Solidarity Action Network Webpage to find out more about the aims of the Solidarity Playbook and all the case study content.

For more information or feedback, reach out to Eva Gondor, Senior Project Manager

Eva Gondor

Senior Project Manager

International Civil Society Centre

Eva leads on the Centre's civic space work - the Solidarity Action Network (SANE) aimed at strengthening resilience of and solidarity among civil society actors, and the International Civic Forum (ICF), our annual civic space platform to network and identify opportunities for collaboration. Prior to joining the Centre she worked at the Robert Bosch Stiftung (Foundation) in Stuttgart where she managed the foundation’s projects focusing on civil society and governance in Turkey, the Western Balkans, and North Africa.


Navigating cybersecurity: Guidance for (I)CSO professionals

11th May 2022 by Eva Gondor

Within the framework of the Solidarity Action Network (SANE), a guidance “Navigating cybersecurity: Guidance for (I)CSO professionals” has been developed to help civil society actors better respond to cybersecurity challenges and digital threats.  

The guidance shares lessons learned and best practices from a series of SANE curated conversations on the topics of data protection and security, prevention and mitigation of cyberattacks, and sustainable cybersecurity support for local civil society. It provides steps to better protect organisations online and highlights further relevant resources and initiatives. This guidance addresses (I)CSO professionals across different departments as cybersecurity needs to be everyone’s responsibility.  

Download Cybersecurity guidance

 

Eva Gondor

Senior Project Manager

International Civil Society Centre

Eva leads on the Centre's civic space work - the Solidarity Action Network (SANE) aimed at strengthening resilience of and solidarity among civil society actors, and the International Civic Forum (ICF), our annual civic space platform to network and identify opportunities for collaboration. Prior to joining the Centre she worked at the Robert Bosch Stiftung (Foundation) in Stuttgart where she managed the foundation’s projects focusing on civil society and governance in Turkey, the Western Balkans, and North Africa.