Charities and other non-profit organizations are to get protection from hackers and cybercriminals as a security company began offering free digital certificates and vulnerability scanning to websites that raise money for good causes.
Internet identity and trust assurance services company Comodo launched an initiative to provide its products free of charge to eligible non-profit organisations and charities to help them protect donors from website data theft and online fraud.
The news comes as more hackers are targeting charitable websites, highlighting the fact that these types of organizations often lack the time, resources and expertise to protect themselves from such threats.
"We've noticed a huge increase in attacks on charities by an ever more indiscriminate cyber-criminal fraternity. As a Certification Authority, we have a duty to help these worthy organizations get the donations they urgently need," said VP of marketing, Judy Shapiro.
Shapiro added, "Comodo takes our stewardship role on internet safety quite seriously. We have developed a set of tools to ensure trust and authenticity in online transactions and this seemed to be a great way to let this technology do good work. We are honored to help."
There is no time limit on the offer and Comodo expects over 3,000 non-profits to take advantage of the scheme. Those already involved range from after-school youth centers to child kidnapping alert services.
Once the participating charity is found to be legitimate, Comodo issues a press release in order to alert fraudsters of the added security to the site.
The free services include SSL certificates, daily server vulnerability scanning and Comodo's online fax service at cost price.
