Cybersecurity Strategies for Nonprofits

Community IT Innovators Nonprofit Technology Topics

Cybersecurity expert and Community IT CTO Matt Eshleman walks us through the strategy behind creating a strong cybersecurity culture at your nonprofit.

Whether you are a large organization, small start up, comfortable with technology or not sure what you need, cybersecurity is something that everyone at your nonprofit needs to think about. This podcast covers the basics and gives you a foundation to put in place.

If you don’t know what you need to know, you’ve come to the right place. Set your team and your organization up for success by taking the first steps. As attacks more frequently also target your personal email for your organization’s passwords, learn how to protect yourself too.
Key Takeaways

• People are your human firewall, they need training and guidance to know what to look for and who to tell. Putting efforts into tools but not training your staff is not going to protect your organization’s assets and data.
• There are simple steps you can take to begin; the key is to start. Make time for cybersecurity and find an accountability buddy. 50% is better than 0%. Once you get started you will be able to build on your beginnings.
• Start with:
  • MFA
  • Password Managers
  • Training
  • Install the updates/Reboot regularly
  • Tools such as Antivirus and other protections
  • Your organization should have security policies and incident response plans
• It is not a matter of if but when. Nonprofit organizations are not protected by being small or doing good work. Hackers want password credentials and money, and your nonprofit can’t afford to lose either.
• As hackers become more sophisticated and use social engineering cons to trick users into wiring money to the wrong account or clicking on the wrong link to enter credentials, staff preparedness is the number one step you can take to increase your cybersecurity and protect your nonprofit. Staff training can be simple and low cost. The key is to build a culture of security and trust, and make sure people are not afraid to report incidents quickly.

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Thanks for listening.