We're building a culture of digital safety among civil society and independent media organizations.

Since 2016, the CyberSTAR Eurasia team has been helping small, at-risk organizations protect themselves, their staff and their beneficiaries from an expanding universe of cyber threats. We do that by guiding them through a systematic process of identifying their vulnerabilities and adopting safer practices. And we are currently most active in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

CyberSTAR stands for Cyber ​​Safety Training, Assessment and Response.
This is the Foundation’s field-tested digital safety “first aid” framework, first developed in the early 2010s. From organizational audits through remediation and staff training, it makes digital safety accessible by framing it as six “points” of a star:

• Risks: Recognizing digital deception via social engineering, phishing and malware.
• Passwords: Protecting assets with strong password management and  authentication.
• Devices: Securing desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones and other devices.
• Data: Protecting important information from unauthorized access, theft and corruption.
• Conversations: Protecting text, audio and video exchanges from unauthorized access.
• Identity: Protecting personal information that can fuel social engineering and impersonation.

To support graduates’ long-term progress, the team provides technical support, fosters a digital-safety champions network and publishes alerts on emerging digital threats. And we are always striving to widen our impact, including through public awareness campaigns and online digital-safety resources. We also provide shorter-term digital safety training and clinics, including for individuals, often in partnership with major events for civil society organizations.

The CyberSTAR difference

CyberSTAR has matured into The SecDev Foundation's core methodology for supporting small, at-risk civil society organizations globally. We're using it to help organizations become more digitally resilient—across Eurasia, but also in the Middle East and North Africa, in Southeast Asia, and beyond.

Yes, there are other ways to get a low-cost digital audit report. That can be ideal for organizations with IT capacity to follow up with action. But for smaller CSOs, a report alone can be paralyzing. That’s why CyberSTAR's primary output is not the audit report, but rather measurable progress. That means stronger technical systems and policies—and it especially means staff who are better equipped to stay safe.