Philip Reitinger, GCA´s President and CEO and leading representative of Common Good Cyber, spoke to Alexis Alley from the CyberPeace Institute at the Beyond 125 event in The Hague.

Watch the video and read his answers below:

Why do NGOs lack cybersecurity measures and are not empowered with AI to enhance digital resilience?

Nonprofits are in a uniquely bad position. They have data that is very valuable to attackers, and their resourcing is such that they almost all fall below what Wendy Nather calls the security poverty line. That is, they lack the sufficient resources or expertise to be able to implement cybersecurity on their own, especially nonprofits that work with project-based funding, and so maybe they get a small percentage to deal with cybersecurity, but have a problem implementing a real program to secure themselves. 

They have access to data that people want, especially if they work in things like conflict zones or with targets of government surveillance, and they’re insufficiently equipped to secure it. Their data is just as valuable as the largest companies, but their resources to protect the data are very thin.

As to why they lack AI resources, everyone still lacks AI resources on the defensive side more than they ought to and generally, nonprofits because of their lack of resources, are not on the bleeding edge of cybersecurity.

This is the first interview in a series from the Beyond125 event. We will update this article with additional Q&A as new related videos are published.