A coalition of nonprofit orgs have joined forces to create Nonprofit Cyber to build awareness of the cybersecurity work they’re doing and team up where it makes sense.
Nonprofit Cyber’s 22 founding members (listed below) say they won’t focus on lobbying, policy development, advocacy organizations, or industry associations. But the group earned a thumbs up from Jen Easterly, director of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
The group, which includes the OWASP Foundation and the FIDO Alliance, is a mix of technologically focused groups, training providers, and threat intelligence platforms. Nonprofit Cyber says that it’s currently focused more on bringing in “members that work to implement best practices and solutions at scale.” Tony Sager from the Center for Internet Security and Philip Reitinger of the Global Cyber Alliance will serve as co-chairs.
Nonprofit Cyber says in an FAQ that it “will not engage in activities that would have the appearance of lobbying or support or oppose specific policy actions by government” and “has no authority to commit or direct members” to behave in certain ways. It’s meant to be “a good-faith effort to better serve the entire community through expert agreement and collaboration.”
But the organization’s members could still find it easier to collaborate on new projects, avoid unnecessary duplication of effort, and seek funding, among other things. It seems that Nonprofit Cyber is focused more on championing technical solutions to security problems than on throwing a bunch of money at elected officials in an attempt to influence their policies.
“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,” the organization says in a press release. “Envisioned as a ‘collaboration-of-equals,’ each member organization has committed to work in coordination to better serve Internet users globally.”
Nonprofit Cyber’s current membership includes:
- Anti-Phishing Working Group
- Center for Internet Security
- Center for Threat-Informed Defense
- Cloud Security Alliance
- Consumer Reports
- CREST International
- Cyber Defence Alliance
- CyberPeace Institute
- Cyber Readiness Institute
- Cyber Threat Alliance
- Cybercrime Support Network
- CyberGreen Institute
- FIDO Alliance
- Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams
- Global Cyber Alliance
- National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance
- National Cybersecurity Alliance
- Open Web Application Security Project
- AFECode
- Shadowserver Foundation
- Sightline Security
- #ShareTheMicInCyber
