This year’s sudden switch to a telecommuter format affected businesses, charities, and nonprofit organizations, as they found different ways of making decisions and ensuring the daily operations. It also presented a new realization for some nonprofit leaders that they didn’t quite have the cybersecurity infrastructure they thought they had.
As trusted parties with limited resources to procure important services in their local communities, charities and nonprofits can be vulnerable. Even small charities can experience big cyber problems, and they may not be prepared to manage the devastating results. A major incident could do a tremendous amount of harm to an organization’s reputation and finances. The good news is that cybersecurity planning steps can help to minimize risks and protect organizations of all sizes.
Before the final push for donation requests this holiday season and the planning for budget needs into the next year, consider the following tips:*
- Identify cyber risks by assessing your risk exposure.
- Protect your data through technology and data governance planning.
- Detect a cybersecurity problem when it happens.
- Respond effectively to a cybersecurity incident.
- Recover from the impact of a cybersecurity or data impairment event.
* These are the basic steps suggested in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework.
Additional information can be found at Give.org as well as BBB.org/smallbusiness.
Tips on how to protect your charity or nonprofit as well as your donor information can be in our business tip on ID theft.