Funding nonprofits’ cybersecurity, protecting donors’ investment: A commentary by Michael Tanji

Protecting donor impact by funding cybersecurity

Consider this scenario: A nonprofit organization known for its ability to deliver lifesaving resources mobilizes in response to a natural disaster, but supplies do not arrive as scheduled. Attempts to remedy the situation are thwarted because the organization’s IT systems are inaccessible due to a ransomware attack. What should have been a straightforward solution is suddenly a quagmire that wastes money, costs lives, and tarnishes the organization’s reputation.

Cybersecurity is rarely a priority for those who make generous contributions to charities. Yet cybersecurity is not a nice-to-have feature but an essential risk-reduction effort that protects the donors’ investment in the organization they support, improves its resilience against malicious activity, protects its employees and those they serve, and helps ensure its viability in the face of growing threats.

The scourge of ransomware illustrates the importance of ensuring that nonprofits have adequate cybersecurity resources. For example, ransomware attacks against hospitals are commonplace, putting patients at risk, sometimes gravely so. Other nonprofit organizations are not immune from such attacks, and neither are companies that support nonprofits....

Read the full commentary by Michael Tanji, chief operating officer at the Global Cyber Alliance.

(Image credit: Getty Images/Tanawat Thipmontha)