Nonprofit organizations are among the most vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches and attacks. How can nonprofits best protect themselves and their data while working within a budget that has a limited amount set aside for technology and technical staff?
Nonprofits need unified processes, training, and governance to defend against modern cyberattacks, as well as technology solutions that work together to deliver end-to-end threat protection, detection, and response. Security solutions enable nonprofits to:
- Prevent attacks across their environment
- Detect and disrupt threats across all systems and storage
- Investigate and respond to attacks faster
Luckily, there are services and training to help nonprofits meet these challenges.
Security starts with training
The majority of security breaches start with social engineering—tactics that trick people into giving up passwords or allowing access to accounts and data through deceptive practices like spoofing, phishing, or posing as a trusted person. 90% of phishing attacks are based on social engineering tactics. Bad actors don’t necessarily need to “hack” your infrastructure and account security if they can easily guess passwords without two-factor authentication (2FA), get staff to click on a phishing email, or otherwise trick people into granting access.
Securing your organization and protecting your infrastructure from malware, viruses, ransomware, or hacks starts with training people. Create a security skills plan across your organization—and regularly require, train, and test your team’s security savvy. The social tactics that bad actors use to trick people into allowing access to their accounts and data are ever-changing and increasing in sophistication. Training and testing for security awareness should be an ongoing organizational process to keep everyone in your organization aware of and up to date on new social engineering attacks.
You can start a security awareness education program for your nonprofit with free training resources in the collection, Cybersecurity is for everyone.
Modules include:
- Securing you: Basics and beyond
- Basic concepts of cybersecurity
- Establish the guiding principles and core components of Zero Trust
- Examine ransomware and extortion-based threats
Cybersecurity Awareness Resources: You can find resources to educate everyone in your organization with cybersecurity awareness training curated by the security experts at Microsoft. The kit is available here: Cybersecurity Awareness - Education and Resources | Microsoft Security
Security solutions for nonprofits
Microsoft offers solutions to help nonprofits improve their cybersecurity. Learn how to keep your data, and the data of your donors and clients, safe with end-to-end solutions.
- Security Program for Nonprofits: Microsoft offers a Security Program for Nonprofits – a set of security offerings, built to complement the Microsoft security suite, to provide proactive monitoring and notification in the case of a nation-state attack, assess organizational and infrastructure risk to help organizations enhance their security posture based on their environment, and streamline security training for IT professionals and end-users. As part of this program, nonprofits can get a free security assessment and free access to Microsoft AccountGuard for nonprofits.
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium Grant: We offer up to 10 free seats of Microsoft 365 Business Premium, our hero offering for smaller nonprofits which comes with enterprise grade security features. We also provide up to 300 free seats of Microsoft 365 Business Basic: Compare Microsoft 365 Nonprofit Plans | Microsoft 365
- Microsoft 365 Nonprofit Discounts: We also offer a 75% nonprofit discount on most of our Microsoft 365 offers (additional seats of Microsoft 365 Business Premium are discounted at 75% as are security standalones, such as Microsoft Defender for Business): Technology and software grants and discounts for nonprofits | Microsoft Nonprofits
Security for everyone
While the increasing velocity and volume of cyberattacks can feel intimidating, you can meet these challenges by taking ownership of your security. First, empower everyone in your organization to become the first line of defense and the protectors of your organization’s data. Second, implement tools and solutions that protect your infrastructure 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. By taking a proactive and unified approach to cybersecurity, nonprofits can ensure the safety and security of their mission.
Explore more security resources for nonprofits:
- Learn about security solutions for nonprofits: Secure and Protect Nonprofit Data | Microsoft Nonprofits
- Get the eBook, Strengthen your nonprofit’s digital security: Protect your data and build trust, with five key steps you can take to improve security at your nonprofit.
- What is Social Engineering? – Microsoft 365
- Feeding from the trust economy: social engineering fraud
- Protect yourself from online scams and attacks - Microsoft Support
- Describe the basic concepts of cybersecurity - Training | Microsoft Learn
- Find security learning resources for technical roles: Microsoft Security documentation and training - Security | Microsoft Learn
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