When end-to-end encryption can protect lives

We’ve all heard it by now: data security & privacy are important. However, most of us can hardly imagine any collateral damage from sending a file via email or forgetting to update our Facebook settings.

But data security can be a life-or-death question.

Working with data has become part of non-profit organizations’ daily routines, just like everyone else’s. Volunteers in humanitarian crisis zones process a great deal of sensitive personal data while helping victims of war, violence, natural disasters or epidemics. Others risk their lives fighting against censorship, crime or corruption.

Soon after I joined Tresorit, which was then a small startup, I read an email from one of our users. He was an influential Iranian blogger, promoting freedom of speech and ideas. He thanked us for protecting his life… That moment I realized how important it is what we do at Tresorit. We are humbled to help these modern heroes. While most of our non-profit customers prefer anonymity and we respect that, here are a few stories that inspire us to come to work everyday.

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is fighting for peace and equality. They connect peace activists from all continents with decision makers at the United Nations in Geneva and New York. As an appreciation of their activities, they were one of the first organizations granted consultative status at the UN and two of their leaders were awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize.

“We work with activists in conflict zones, so we need online services like Tresorit that guarantee security. Our peace activists face life threats and can be in danger if their names or their data gets to the wrong hands”, WILPF told us.

The Berlin-based Jiyan Foundation supports survivors of human rights violations, promotes democratic values and defends fundamental freedoms in Kurdistan-Iraq.

“To guarantee the safety of the victims, it’s crucial that all our employees are able to access documents and communicate with each other securely, without the smallest chance of a data breach”, they explained.

End-to-end encryption is a must for data security. We are launching a program to make it accessible to all NGOs: www.tresorit.com/nonprofit.