The world’s leading implementation-focused nonprofit cybersecurity organizations today launched Nonprofit Cyber, a first-of-its-kind coalition of global nonprofit organizations to enhance joint action to improve cybersecurity. All coalition members are nonprofits that serve the public interest by developing, sharing, deploying, and increasing the awareness of cybersecurity best practices, tools, standards, and services.

“I applaud that this consummate consortium of nonprofits has formed to actively protect us against security threats to our digital infrastructure and uphold our open internet, combining their knowledge, skills, and tools for the greatest effect,” said Govind Shivkumar, director of responsible technology at Omidyar Network.

Nonprofit Cyber will initially focus on two priorities: building awareness of the work of cybersecurity nonprofits globally and aligning their work to achieve the greatest effect. Envisioned as a “collaboration-of-equals,” each member organization has committed to work in coordination to better serve Internet users globally. Coalition members must be a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) nonprofit if organized under U.S. law or hold an equivalent status if organized under the laws of another country. More information is available at the coalition’s website NonprofitCyber.org and on Twitter at @NonprofitCyber.

The twenty-two founding members of Nonprofit Cyber are the Anti-Phishing Working Group, the Center for Internet Security, the Center for Threat-Informed Defense, the Cloud Security Alliance, Consumer Reports, CREST International, the Cyber Defence Alliance, the CyberPeace Institute, the Cyber Readiness Institute, the Cyber Threat Alliance, the Cybercrime Support Network, the CyberGreen Institute, the FIDO Alliance, the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams, the Global Cyber Alliance, the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance, the National Cybersecurity Alliance, the Open Web Application Security Project, SAFECode, the Shadowserver Foundation, Sightline Security, and #ShareTheMicInCyber. Tony Sager of CIS and Philip Reitinger of GCA will serve as co-chairs as the organization begins operations.

Nonprofit Cyber welcomes applications for new members that work to implement best practices and solutions at scale. Nonprofit Cyber is focused on these organizations, rather than lobbying or policy development and advocacy organizations, or industry associations. Information on joining Nonprofit Cyber can be found at its website.

“A large number of nonprofits that focus on cybersecurity implementation are working within their own areas of action toward the joint goal of improving cybersecurity, but the lack of coordination and communication among them can lead to inefficiency and duplication of effort.” said Philip Reitinger, President and CEO of the GCA and incoming co-chair of Nonprofit Cyber. “Better communication and collaboration among these groups will enable programmatic and opportunistic action to improve cybersecurity.”

“Cybersecurity nonprofits create and sustain essential resources that touch every enterprise and every person. And many are natural ‘integration engines,’ bringing together people and ideas across the public and private sectors, technical disciplines, industry sectors, and national borders.” said Tony Sager, Senior Vice President and Chief Evangelist for CIS, and incoming co-chair of Nonprofit Cyber. “Our goal with Nonprofit Cyber is to collaboratively align our individual strengths into a collective force for good, taking positive action for the entire cyber ecosystem”

Key stakeholders welcomed the creation of Nonprofit Cyber.

“At CISA, we know that government has an important role in building our collective defense and that we can’t do it alone; cyber is a team sport and we look forward to partnering with Nonprofit Cyber on this mission,” said Kiersten Todt, Chief of Staff for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the U.S.. “The launch of Nonprofit Cyber is an important step in aggregating the tools and resources of global non-profits and making them available to organizations of all sizes, especially small businesses, which are often the target of malicious actors. CISA looks forward to collaborating with Nonprofit Cyber to help our nation, and the world, raise the cybersecurity baseline and promote global resilience.”

“Non-profits have an important role to play in helping set expectations in cyber security hygiene and providing tools that can help organisations of all sizes,” said NCSC (UK) Technical Director Dr Ian Levy. “I’m really happy to see these great organisations coming together under ‘Nonprofit Cyber’ to be better coordinated and to maximise the impact they can have in helping the global cyber security mission.”

“Public-private-nonprofit cooperation, including internationally, is at the core of the NCSC-Netherlands’ work,” said Hans de Vries, Director of the NCSC-NL. “We therefore welcome this initiative, for it can help to bolster the fabric of understanding, sharing and cooperating during incidents and in general improve cyber governance. We will seek to support this new initiative from day one.”

“When it comes to cyber security, collaboration is key. Government, industry, academia and non-profits all have a part to play, and the more we coordinate with each other, the more effective we will be,” said Sami Khoury, Head of the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (Cyber Centre). “The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security supports the stated goal of Nonprofit Cyber which will undoubtedly help raise the cyber security bar across Canada, and around the world.” “A key part of the Office of the National Cyber Directors’s core mission is to improve federal coherence in cyber policy, action and doctrine, and to promote future resilience in the cyber ecosystem,” said Chris Inglis, the National Cyber Director of the U.S. “Given its importance to the entire cyber ecosystem, it is very encouraging to see this nonprofit community’s initiative to promote coherence and align their work for the benefit of all.”

“With the unprecedented rise in cyber crimes associated with greater use of technology during the pandemic, the need for expert support for users to defend themselves has never been greater,” said Kelly Born, Director of the Cyber Initiative at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. “There are great nonprofits working to support cyber defense, and too often their efforts go uncoordinated due to lack of resources. Nonprofit Cyber is a much needed step in the right direction of enabling greater collaboration in this critical field.”

“Everyone must be able to protect themselves, their family, and their businesses from cyber threats. Nonprofits play a critical role in ensuring that is possible, filling the gaps between what governments and companies do,” said Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist and head of Craig Newmark Philanthropies. “Aligning the activity of these organizations is an important step toward protecting society and human rights.”

“There is a huge cybersecurity non-profit ecosystem attempting to educate the general public about the need of protecting their data, as well as bring more people to this career field,” said Ron Gula of the Gula Tech Foundation. “Coordination of the efforts of cybersecurity nonprofits by Nonprofit Cyber will dramatically increase the effectiveness and impact of this critical endeavor.”