The Wikimedia Foundation this week announced that it has received $2.5 million in funding from Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
The announcement comes days after Wikipedia went down in some countries as a result of a massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.
The organization, which has long relied on donations to maintain its projects free, aims to use the funds to help ensure the security of Wikipedia and of its other sites, as well as its global community of volunteers.
The philanthropic investment will “help the Wikimedia Foundation vigorously monitor and thwart risks to its free knowledge projects,” the organization said.
The funds will also be used to protect information about the organization’s users and projects. Moreover, Wikimedia plans on investing in providing users worldwide with “safe and secure access to its platforms on all devices.”
A top 10 website, Wikipedia has hundreds of millions of users, which makes it a target for vandalism, hacking, and other cybersecurity threats, said John Bennett, Director of Security at the Wikimedia Foundation.
“That’s why we are working proactively to combat problems before they arise. This investment will allow us to further expand our security programs to identify current and future threats, create effective countermeasures, and improve our overall security controls,” Bennett added.
The funding will provide Wikimedia’s security team with the possibility to implement a host of security controls and services, including application security, risk management, incident response, and more.
Craig Newmark has provided support to the Wikimedia Foundation in the past, donating nearly $2 million to the organization’s projects. The contributions include initial philanthropic funding for the Community Health Initiative, and support to the Wikimedia Endowment.
“As disinformation and other security threats continue to jeopardize the integrity of our democracy, we must invest in systems that protect the services that work so hard to get accurate and trustworthy information in front of the public. That’s why I eagerly continue to support the Wikimedia Foundation and its projects—like Wikipedia, the place where facts go to live,” Newmark said.
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