Maintaining the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT)
Over the years, we’ve been committed to supporting social justice organizations, collectives, and individuals to be more technologically and operationally resilient. We’ve worked with people across the world, particularly from the Global Majority, to navigate some of the most pressing challenges facing civil society, and to find possible solutions or strategies to tackle these issues.
Our digital resilience approach at The Engine Room emphasizes creating safe and inclusive digital spaces, where collaboration, knowledge sharing and capacity building are key. It also integrates cybersecurity, technical intuition, responsible data and technology to create a holistic organizational architecture that advances social justice. This approach aims to equip social justice organizations, collectives, groups, and individuals—both locally and globally—with the tools and knowledge they need to not only withstand challenges, but also to leverage technology in ways that amplify their social justice missions.
Given the growing digital threats that impact and aim to restrict civil society work, tools that prioritize the experiences, collective care, and cybersecurity of these communities are essential. At The Engine Room, as part of our digital resilience support efforts, we are thrilled to announce that starting in 2025, we will be hosting and maintaining the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) for the next three years. We’ll also advance capacity building efforts to amplify its impact, including embedding it into our support programs.
How CAT can support your organization
The Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) is designed to measure the maturity, resiliency, and strength of an organization’s cybersecurity efforts.
- Easy to use – No jargon, making it accessible for everyone, regardless of their technical expertise.
- Comprehensive – The tool gives you insights and recommendations about device, account, and associated risk security.
- Time commitment – The assessment takes one to two hours to fill out.
- Agency – A collaborative process, providing a structured way to start conversations around digital security within your organization.
- A plan – Offers actionable steps to improve your security measures.
- Continuous approach – By using CAT regularly (on a yearly basis), you can track improvements over time.
How The Engine Room can support you in using CAT
At The Engine Room, we are excited about the future of CAT and how we, along with the tool, can help organizations strengthen their digital resilience. Throughout your cybersecurity journey, The Engine Room can support you in various ways:
- Strategic one-on-one support: How can we select tools that align with our mission? Where do I start to learn digital security tips? How do we ensure our data is protected? Through our Light Touch Support (LiTS), you can connect with one of our team members and get contextualized, targeted guidance on these questions or any cybersecurity or organizational security questions you may have.
- Create roadmaps: We believe cybersecurity is a journey, and every journey should have a roadmap. We can help you prioritize and create a roadmap based on the recommendations you receive after using CAT. Come and start your roadmap with us in our open office hours. We will announce them soon.
- Knowledge sharing: We’ll host a series of community calls on cybersecurity and other connected topics that interest our partners and communities. These events will offer opportunities to:
- Learn from other organizations across the world.
- Network with peers.
- Receive guidance on how to approach the tool.
As we continue this journey, we encourage you to stay tuned for upcoming events, updates, and resources to help you navigate cybersecurity challenges. Follow us on Linkedin and subscribe to our newsletter to keep up with news. Join our community calls, where we will share insights, tips, and strategies. Together, we can improve our strategies to be better protected in this ever-evolving digital world.