A list of cybersecurity-focused charities and nonprofits
A list of cybersecurity-focused charities and nonprofits
A list of charities and nonprofits working to help people and organizations, advance the industry forward, and make the world a better place
What makes cybersecurity an incredible industry to be a part of are the people, their passion for what they do, and their generosity. One of the expressions of these qualities is a long list of great nonprofit and charitable organizations, events, movements, and initiatives powered by volunteers and people looking for ways to make this world a better place for everyone.
A select few of the most impactful cybersecurity nonprofits are widely known and loved while the majority are not. In this post, I would like to put together a list of some of the most amazing organizations I know of and I was able to crowdsource from others. This list isn’t meant to be comprehensive and it intentionally doesn’t include the following: Information Sharing (ISAC/ISAO) organizations, regulatory institutions and government agencies, think tanks & policy institutes, research institutions affiliated with universities, as well as professional bodies and certification providers. People from the above organizations are doing incredible work in our community - the work we recognize and appreciate. It is, however, beyond my ability to list each and every organization from around the globe.
I hope you will find this list as useful as I did, and maybe you can even get involved with some of these great organizations. If you feel that there are other nonprofits that deserve to be added, please submit a form & I’ll try to do it in the next few weeks.
I’ve tried to loosely categorize the organizations to make the list easier to navigate, but please don’t sweat over the specific categories - they are for convenience only and are most likely wrong. The descriptions of each organization have been borrowed from their website or social media. Needless to say, the list is not an endorsement of any specific nonprofit.
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Mental Health
Mind Over Cyber
Mind Over Cyber is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing mental health and burnout in the cybersecurity industry through the teaching of accessible mindfulness techniques for defenders.
CYBERMINDZ.ORG
Recognizing that many cyber security professionals – our very defenders – are themselves under sustained and increasing stress, CYBERMINDZ.ORG set about providing direct support to restore and rebuild emotional and cognitive health and alleviate suffering.
Diversity & Inclusion
The Diana Initiative
The Diana Initiative is a 501c3 non-profit corporation the mission of which is to Elevate, Inspire, and Support women and non-binary people of all races, cultures, and backgrounds through every stage of their Information Security career with Education, Collaboration, and Resources offered online and at inclusive & welcoming conferences.
Women In Technology (WIT)
Women In Technology (WIT) empowers girls and women to excel in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math (STEAM) from the classroom to the boardroom.
Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS)
Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is a non-profit and membership-based organization dedicated to the recruitment, retention, and advancement of women in the cybersecurity field.
Women4Cyber
Women4Cyber is a non-profit European private foundation with the objective to promote, encourage, and support the participation of women in the field of cybersecurity.
BlackGirlsHack
Black Girls Hack aims to provide resources, training, and access to black women and increase representation and diversity in the cybersecurity field. While BlackGirlsHack advocates and does what they do for Black girls and women, their programming is open to everyone.
Women + Cybersecurity = Women's Society of Cyberjutsu
The Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu’s primary mission is to advance women in cybersecurity by providing programs and partnerships that promote hands-on training, networking, education, mentoring, resource-sharing, and opportunities.
Cyversity
Cyversity is a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to achieve the consistent representation of women, underrepresented minorities, and all veterans in the cybersecurity industry through programs designed to diversify, educate, and empower.
Security Education
KC7 Foundation
The KC7 Foundation is on a mission to equip everyone with the skills to succeed in tomorrow’s diverse cybersecurity workforce by creating fun, engaging, and accessible learning experiences. The foundation makes it easy for anyone to transform into a digital detective, sift through data, and unravel mysteries.
Whole Cyber Human Initiative
Whole Cyber Human Initiative scans the internet and creates robust curriculums utilizing reputable complimentary training resources that would otherwise cost between roughly $8,525 and $26,640 for online education or $9,000 to $20,000 for an online cyber cert bootcamp.
CyberPatriot
CyberPatriot - The National Youth Cyber Education Program is a STEM program of the Air & Space Forces Association. It was created to inspire K-12 students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future.
Teach Kids Tech
Teach Kids Tech is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, dedicated to providing children in underserved communities with access to technical literature and educational opportunities.
Incident Response & Security Help
National Cybersecurity Society
The National Cybersecurity Society is a non-profit organization focused on providing cybersecurity education, awareness, and advocacy to small businesses.
CTI League
The CTI League is the first Open Global Volunteer Emergency Response Center that aims to create a safer cyber-space for hospitals, the medical sector, and life-saving organizations worldwide.
CompTIA Emergency Response Team (ERT)
The CompTIA Community Emergency Response Team (ERT) is a group of dedicated CompTIA Community members who have either experienced a security incident or can provide guidance to solution providers that have been victimized. As a volunteer-led program, this service is available to any solution provider at no cost as a service to the industry.
IDCARE
IDCARE is Australia and New Zealand’s national identity & cyber support service. IDCARE has helped thousands of Australian and New Zealand individuals and organizations reduce the harm they experience from the compromise and misuse of their identity information by providing effective response and mitigation.
FIRST
The Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) is an international, non-profit association of computer security incident response teams. Membership in FIRST enables incident response teams to more effectively respond to security incidents by providing access to best practices, tools, and trusted communication with member teams.
The Cyber Helpline
The Cyber Helpline provides free, expert help for victims of cybercrime, digital fraud & online harm.
Hackers for Change
Hackers for Change offers free cybersecurity services to Canadian charities and non-profit organizations.
Security Research Legal Defense Fund
Security Research Legal Defense Fund aims to help fund legal representation for persons who face legal issues due to good faith security research and vulnerability disclosure in cases that would advance cybersecurity for the public interest.
Security Community & Leadership
Information Security Leadership Foundation
A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, volunteer organization, the Information Security Leadership Foundation is a community of information security executives focused on practitioner collaboration and the education, mentorship, and development of the next generation of information security leaders.
Security Tinkerers
Security Tinkerers is an international community made up of cybersecurity leaders, founders, and innovators. Founded in 2018, Security Tinkerers seeks to make a positive impact across the security community through events, charitable giving, and the group’s collective values.
Veteran Support
VetSec
VetSec is a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission of creating a world where no veteran pursuing a career in cybersecurity goes unemployed. The organization accepts active duty, reservists, and veterans from the United States and friendly nations into their community.
Investment & Free Startup Support
In-Q-Tel (IQT)
IQT is the non-profit strategic investor that accelerates the development and delivery of cutting-edge technologies to U.S. government agencies that keep our nation safe. IQT was established in 1999 with a distinct mission: to identify and partner with startup companies developing innovative technologies that protect and preserve our nation’s security.
The Catalyst Cyber Accelerator
The Catalyst Cyber Accelerator is the first and foremost cybersecurity-focused business accelerator in Canada, designed to help early-stage cybersecurity companies grow into industry leaders. There is no cost to participate and they do not take equity in participating companies.
Standards, Best Practices & Open Source
Open Cybersecurity Alliance
The Open Cybersecurity Alliance brings together vendors and end users in an open cybersecurity ecosystem where products can freely exchange information, insights, analytics, and orchestrated response. The OCA supports commonly developed code and tooling and the use of mutually agreed-upon technologies, data standards, and procedures.
OASIS Open
OASIS Open is a non-profit standards body that offers projects—including open source projects—a path to standardization and de jure approval for reference in international policy and procurement. People join OASIS to advance projects for cybersecurity, blockchain, IoT, emergency management, cloud computing, legal data exchange, and much more.
Cloud Security Alliance
The Cloud Security Alliance is a non-profit organization formed to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing and provide education on the uses of Cloud Computing to help secure all other forms of computing.
OWASP® Foundation
The Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP) is a worldwide free and open community focused on improving the security of software.
General
Global Anti-Scam Alliance
The mission of the Global Anti-Scam Alliance is to protect consumers worldwide from scams by raising awareness, enabling hands-on tools for consumers and law enforcement, facilitating knowledge sharing, organizing research, supporting the development of (legal) best practices, and offering training and education.
European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO)
ECSO is a European cross-sectoral and independent membership organization for cybersecurity that gathers and represents European public and private cybersecurity stakeholders and fosters their cooperation. Members of ECSO include large companies, SMEs and start-ups, research centers, universities, end-users and operators of essential services, clusters, and associations, as well as the local, regional, and national public administrations across the European Union Members States and the European Free Trade Association.
CyberPeace Institute
The CyberPeace Institute is a Geneva-based organization protecting the most vulnerable in cyberspace. Independent and neutral, the Institute investigates and analyzes the human impact of systemic cyber threats, delivers free cybersecurity assistance, tracks the enforcement of international laws and norms, and forecasts threats to Cyberpeace.
Global Cyber Alliance
The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to making the Internet a safer place by reducing cyber risk. They build communities to deploy tools, services, and programs that provide cybersecurity at a global scale.
LSEC - Leaders in Security
Leaders In Security, an internationally renowned Digital Security Catalyst, is a not-for-profit organization that has the objective to promote Information Security and the expertise in BeNeLux and Europe.
Industrial control systems & critical infrastructure
Building Cyber Security
Building Cyber Security is dedicated to advancing cyber-physical security to enhance the protection of data, information, systems, and people who are a part of the commercial real estate ecosystem.
ICS Village
Non-profit organization to advance security awareness and education of industrial control systems (ICS) through community engagement with events, conferences, white papers, and webinars.
Local and Regional Organizations
Florida Cyber Alliance
Florida Cyber Alliance is a non-profit organization and 501(c)(3) public charity on a mission to enhance the cybersecurity community by fostering strategic partnerships and providing information security training, fellowship, and outreach.
Event Organizers
Security BSides
BSides is a community-driven framework for building events for and by information security community members. There are hundreds of organizations organizing incredible events all around the world. For the list of upcoming BSides events, visit the BSides website.
Sober in Cyber
Sober in Cyber is a nonprofit organization on a mission to provide alcohol-free events and community-building opportunities for sober individuals who work in the cybersecurity industry.
Blue Team Con
Blue Team Con is an annual in-person conference created for cybersecurity defenders, inclusive of anyone interested in safeguarding organizations.
Blacks In Cybersecurity
Blacks In Cybersecurity is a meetup group and conference series to help highlight and elevate the Black community in Cybersecurity.
Research Communities & Other
Cybersecurity Cares
Cybersecurity Cares is a grassroots volunteer organization that runs an annual cybersecurity industry fundraiser with the proceeds going to a charity.
Spamhaus Project
Spamhaus Project is the authority on IP and domain reputation. This intelligence enables the Spamhaus Project to shine a light on malicious activity, educate and support those who want to change for the better, and hold those who don't to account.
ISECOM
The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM) is an open, security research community providing original resources, tools, and certifications in the field of security.
I hope you will find this list as useful as I did, and maybe even get involved with some of these great organizations. If you feel that there are organizations that deserve to be added, please submit a form & I’ll try to do it in the next few weeks.