Why Project Galileo is expanding beyond DDoS protection
Project Galileo launched in 2014 to shield free expression from cyber attacks. Many organizations doing this work are underfunded and lack the security resources that larger enterprises take for granted, leaving them exposed to attacks aimed at silencing legitimate speech. Over the past eight years, Cloudflare has worked with 50 civil society partners to onboard more than 2,000 organizations across 111 countries.
The threat landscape has shifted considerably since then. Global events — the COVID-19 pandemic, social justice movements, the war in Ukraine, and emerging threats targeting vulnerable groups — have introduced new risks. The rapid move to remote work during the pandemic created fresh attack surface. In discussions with partners and participants, a consistent theme emerged: the "one size fits all" security model only serves large enterprises with dedicated security teams and substantial budgets.
Project Galileo participants range widely in size, internal capacity, and technical expertise. Many depend on their online presence to collect donations, coordinate volunteers, and promote their mission. Traditional enterprise security products don't match their needs or their ability to manage them.
Zero Trust for every participant
Cloudflare has now extended its Zero Trust products to all domains under Project Galileo. The Zero Trust model assumes no one is trusted by default — whether inside or outside the network — and requires verification from everyone requesting access to network resources. This approach helps organizations of any size address common security problems like data loss, malware, and phishing, freeing them to focus on their missions.
Several Project Galileo participants are already putting these tools to work.
CyberPeace Institute
CyberPeace Institute, an independent and neutral NGO headquartered in Switzerland, was established in 2019 to ensure people's rights to security, dignity, and equity in cyberspace. The Institute analyzes cyberattacks to expose their societal impact and violations of international law, and works with humanitarian NGOs to protect their operations and build cyber capabilities. Cloudflare began partnering with the Institute in 2022, onboarding them to Zero Trust to secure critical applications and protect employees from online threats.
"Both the Institute and Cloudflare share a core motivation to ensure the rights of people to security, dignity and equity in cyberspace. This alignment gives us confidence that Cloudflare is the right strategic partner as we evolve with our mission." — Stéphane Duguin, Chief Executive Officer, CyberPeace Institute
Information Technology Disaster Resource Center
The Information Technology Disaster Resource Center (ITDRC) is a nonprofit of technical professionals and private sector partners supporting disaster response across the United States. The organization provides connectivity, Wi-Fi hotspots, cell phone charging stations, and Internet-enabled computers for shelters, fire camps, and community recovery. ITDRC joined Project Galileo in 2020 and has since implemented multiple Zero Trust products to secure volunteers and employees.
"Cloudflare Zero Trust is essential to securing our employees, volunteers, and disaster survivors on site and in the field... With Cloudflare Access, we are able to ensure that team members receive a consistent user experience accessing internal applications based on their role, all while utilizing our existing identity provider and securing our infrastructure." — Chris Hillis, Co-founder, ITDRC
Meedan
Meedan is a global technology not-for-profit building software and programs to strengthen journalism, digital literacy, and accessibility of information. Their open-source tools support crowdsourcing, annotation, verification, archival, and translation across projects like election monitoring, pandemic response, and human rights documentation.
"Meedan and Cloudflare both share a vision of a more equitable, safer Internet. We were proud to be a founding member of Project Galileo in 2014... Closer to home Cloudflare helps our employees be more secure and productive when creating and distributing our open source software." — Aaron Huslage, Director of Systems and Security, Meedan
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is the world's oldest regional organization, dating to the First International Conference of American States held from October 1889 to April 1890. Its 35 members focus on four pillars — democracy, human rights, security, and development — and use the body for multilateral dialogue on issues from indigenous peoples' rights to education goals.
"The partnership with Cloudflare will help the Organization of American States (OAS) democratize best-in-class security to modernize and strengthen our internal cybersecurity posture with a Zero Trust approach, delivered in the cloud, without sacrificing our workforce performance." — Andrew Vanjani, OAS Chief Information Officer
Applying for protection
Organizations seeking protection under Project Galileo can apply through the program's website at cloudflare.com/galileo.
