Last spring, major cyberattacks seemed to take place weekly. Everything from gas production to meat packing was vulnerable. As executive director of the Middendorf Foundation, each incident raised my blood pressure. I knew I needed to protect my organization, but I didn’t feel like I had the right tools to do so.

As a small staffed foundation, I find it difficult to access relevant, right-sized information: most tools and resources are geared at larger organizations. Thus, I thought it would be best to learn from my peers.

In September, I met with a working group of Exponent Philanthropy members to discuss how our foundations experienced and prepared for potential cyber incidents. From those conversations, I compiled this checklist of nine easy cyber security actions lean funders should take:

  1. Set up multi-factor authentication for software sign-in
  2. Set multi-factor authentication for password changes
  3. Encrypt documents
  4. Remove names and email addresses from your website
  5. Avoid exchanging sensitive information
  6. Avoid unsecure networks
  7. Develop cyber policies
  8. Invest in cyber insurance
  9. Join a cyber-security working group

Read the full article about cyber security actions by Havaca Ganguly at Exponent Philanthropy.