Infosec Without Borders aims to help aid organisations

Infosec Without Borders (IWB) is the name of a new organisation, modeled on Médecins Sans Frontières, which aims to provide IT services to aid organisations operating in poverty-stricken countries. It was launched last weekend at hacker convention Def Con 19 by IT experts Johnny Long and Marcus Carey.

Long briefly found fame by using Google to search for server vulnerabilities some years ago. He has since been involved in helping mainly African countries through his Hackers for Charity organisation. It is a non-profit organisation which seeks to solve technical problems for other aid organisations and provide food, equipment, education and computer training to the world's poorest people. Long is currently working in Uganda.

According to Infosec Without Borders, many aid organisations face IT security problems which they are unable to resolve because they cannot afford the specialists required to do so. Conversely, there is a large pool of people who have offered their assistance to Hackers for Charity. There is, therefore, both supply and demand, but getting them together is not straightforward – established specialists are rarely permitted to perform external work outside of their companies and most other volunteers have not yet earned the necessary trust to be let loose in a sensitive field like IT security.

Long and Carey achieved something of a breakthrough when US security company Rapid7, for which Carey works, agreed to collaborate with the organisation. With Rapid7 on board, Long found that he was able to interest other companies in working with Infosec Without Borders. Once they have found a reasonable pool of volunteers, IWB plans to contact them as required. If, for example, an increasing number of tasks relating to remote maintenance of aid organisation IT systems need to be dealt with, additional volunteers from the community will be called in and instructed by experienced specialists.

IWB believes companies will benefit in that, as well as carrying out socially useful work, they will also get access to a pool of talented people. Aid organisations will receive quality services which they would not otherwise be able to afford and volunteers will gain experience in their field, may gain access to job vacancies and will be supported by mentors.

(sno)