How CyberPeace Institute Enhances Cyber Threat Monitoring with Dataminr

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About the CyberPeace Institute: 

• A global nonprofit organization that supports NGOs and other critical sectors by offering free cybersecurity assistance, threat detection and analysis while advocating for a safe and secure cyber space. 
• Helps 600+ NGOs build their cyber resilience and fend off cyberattacks 
• Collaborates with partner organizations through the CyberPeace Builders program—a cybersecurity match-making program between corporate volunteers and nonprofits to protect 1 million nonprofits by 2035 
• Dataminr customer since 2024

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With cyberattacks growing more frequent and sophisticated, NGOs have become prime targets for threat actors due to their work involving sensitive data on vulnerable populations, funders, partners and more. 

To help address this issue, the CyberPeace Institute relies on advanced technologies to assist NGOs in their digital defense strategies. The Institute has adopted Dataminr’s AI-powered real-time event, risk & threat intelligence solution, Dataminr Pulse for Cyber Risk, to improve its threat monitoring operations and better protect nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve. We spoke with two of the Institute’s analysts, Miles Collins and Tanner Wagner, to learn how Dataminr has enabled them to do so.

The Challenge: Maximizing Operational Efficiency

Because the threat landscape evolves constantly, the CyberPeace Institute continually explores collaborations to strengthen its threat-monitoring processes. Common pain points the Institute seeks to improve include: 

• Time-consuming manual research using diverse data sources: Team analysts manually searched for publicly recorded cyber attacks across scattered data sources. Searching and tracking these incidents required constant checks of disparate channels every few days or weeks. “A lot of it was a manual process… researching online using our open-source intelligence (OSINT) skills,” said Wagner.
• Vulnerability assessment challenges: Without real-time intelligence on actively exploited vulnerabilities, prioritization can be challenging. 

Dataminr is one of the tool providers assisting the CyberPeace Institute in working more efficiently across these areas, helping deliver accurate, actionable intelligence.

The Solution: Modernized Threat Monitoring With Dataminr’s AI-Powered Platform

Dataminr has enabled the Institute to improve its manual, labor-intensive monitoring processes with a consolidated, automated system that delivers real-time insights.

AI-powered real-time event, threat & risk intelligence

What initially caught the Institute’s attention was Dataminr’s “AI-powered capabilities in aggregating big data, enhancing the ability of analysts to receive relevant and timely sensitive alerts,” according to Collins. By integrating these tools, the Institute could “proactively identify potential risks that could impact the nonprofits we protect, enabling us to respond quickly to evolving cyber threats,” said Collins. 

In addition, Dataminr’s real-time alerts provided immediate context, saving time on initial research.

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Unprecedented Value of Intel Agents—Dataminr’s Groundbreaking Agentic AI Capability 

When Dataminr’s AI platform detects the earliest indications of events, risks, and threats, Intel Agents are tasked with autonomously determining the additional context that’s needed, where to look for it, and how to best synthesize what they find into concise text. This AI innovation introduces a new generation of AI-powered real-time event, threat and risk intelligence that revolutionizes how organizations rapidly understand, contextualize, and respond to unexpected events. 

Learn more: Dataminr Intel Agents Deliver Instant Context for Cyber Threat Intelligence Teams

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Seamless data aggregation

Dataminr enhanced the Institute’s monitoring operations by aggregating insights from diverse sources—including social media, niche cyber threat boards, and news outlets. As Collins explained, “Because Dataminr aggregates different sources together, it helps with being more time efficient when going through cyber incidents or claims.”

Enhanced source attribution

Initial concerns about data credibility were addressed through Dataminr’s transparent source attribution. “We needed to ensure data credibility and source transparency. These concerns were mitigated by Dataminr’s data source attribution,” said Wagner. He also commended Dataminr’s “wide range of sources and its capability to integrate additional ones.”

3 Key Benefits of Using Dataminr

The Institute identified several transformative benefits from implementing Dataminr’s platforms.

No. 1. Faster detection and proactive response

Dataminr accelerated the Institute’s threat detection capabilities, enabling proactive responses. For instance, “Dataminr alerted us to a leaked database at one of our nonprofit beneficiaries, allowing us to quickly assess the incident and notify the impacted organization. This early warning was crucial, as it helped us identify an issue that could have otherwise gone unnoticed,” said Collins. 

In this specific incident, “Dataminr was the first source to notify us, allowing us to contact the organization with remedial support and suggestions,” said Collins. The threat actor had gained access to and published a sample of the database they exfiltrated, making early detection critical for damage control.

No. 2. Enhanced vulnerability prioritization

One of the Institute’s most significant challenges involved helping NGOs prioritize vulnerabilities with limited resources. “Prioritizing which vulnerabilities to remediate first can be challenging for organizations of any size—even more so when nonprofits have limited human resources/small teams who manage aspects of both IT and security,” said Collins. 

To help address this challenge, the team is fine-tuning Dataminr’s AI-powered spike alerts, which Collins believes can add great value. 

“Dataminr’s AI-powered spike alerts on vulnerabilities are useful to understand when there’s an uptick in detected activity to exploit specific vulnerabilities,” said Collins. “These insights will be useful for us to check for the presence of these vulnerabilities in our beneficiaries’ environments and to better advise them on relevant vulnerability remediation.”

No. 3. Comprehensive threat visibility

Dataminr provided the Institute with enhanced visibility into global cyber threats. “Dataminr has improved our threat visibility, providing real-time alerts that help us stay ahead of emerging risks and protect our nonprofit beneficiaries,” said Wagner. 

This enhanced visibility proved particularly valuable for the Institute’s’s specialized research work, including the Cyberattacks in Times of Conflict Platform covering the Russia-Ukraine war. 

“Dataminr has given us a clearer view of pro-Russian cyber attacks, particularly DDoS attacks and hacktivist activities targeting organizations in Ukraine and abroad,” said Wagner.

Real-World Applications of Dataminr’s Real-Time Event, Threat & Risk Intelligence

The Institute has leveraged Dataminr across multiple critical initiatives with measurable impact:

CyberPeace Tracer platform

Dataminr alerts are an instrumental asset to the Institute’s’s CyberPeace Tracer platform, which tracks cybersecurity incidents and information operations affecting civil society organizations. “Dataminr’s alerts play a crucial role by providing real-time notifications of publicly recorded incidents, allowing us to document potential incidents,” said Collins. 

The platform serves Civil Society Organizations, policymakers, and researchers, helping to “influence policy and raise awareness of cybersecurity’s importance in protecting vulnerable organizations.” Data collection efficiency has improved when documenting  cyber attacks, “For an initial project researching cyberattacks against NGOs and nonprofits, Dataminr represented  about two-thirds of all the cyber attacks,” said Wagner.

Conflict zone monitoring

For the Institute’s work on the Russia-Ukraine war, Dataminr proved “invaluable for cross-checking information” and provided comprehensive coverage of evolving threats. According to Wagner, Dataminr has been very useful for other projects as well, whether they are in the initial research phase or in the data collection phase.

Direct beneficiary protection

Beyond research applications, Dataminr enables hands-on protection of the Institute’s network. The Institute maintains vigilance for threats against beneficiaries through its CyberPeace Builders program—in which Dataminr is now participating—with alerts enabling immediate intervention when risks are identified.

Future integration plans

Looking ahead, the CyberPeace Institute is “keen to leverage Dataminr Pulse’s API capabilities to integrate it more seamlessly into our data collection and publishing processes,” said Collins. Plans include using the API to cross-reference findings across data sources and aggregate raw data into actionable insights on the Institute’s dashboards.

Strengthening NGO cybersecurity through AI-driven intelligence

CyberPeace Institute’s partnership with Dataminr demonstrates how advanced AI tools can revolutionize cybersecurity for the nonprofit sector. By enhancing processes with automated intelligence, the Institute has achieved faster response times, broader operational reach, and enhanced visibility into emerging threats. The combination of real-time event, threat and risk intelligence, comprehensive data source coverage, and transparent attribution makes Dataminr an invaluable ally in protecting vulnerable organizations from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats. 

“Overall, Dataminr has enhanced our ability to support beneficiaries and respond to threats more effectively,” said Wagner. The organization anticipates that continued integration will “enhance our ability to identify critical threats and vulnerabilities, helping us strengthen the cyber resilience of organizations by providing timely, relevant intelligence.”