What makes cybersecurity in humanitarian aid different? Insights from practitioners on key challenges

Abstract

Humanitarian organizations are increasingly facing cyber threats that put their data and the populations they serve at risk, making effective cybersecurity essential to uphold their mission and values. Yet humanitarian organizations face unique organizational, operational, and normative challenges that hinder cybersecurity. To gain a comprehensive understanding of these challenges, this mixed-method study investigates the key obstacles to effective cybersecurity implementation, drawing on practitioners’ experiences. The findings reveal a critical insight: every cybersecurity decision involves difficult trade-offs across a complex web of humanitarian, legal, ethical, and operational priorities. While the study confirms that the humanitarian organizational and operational context poses challenges to implementing conventional cybersecurity measures, practitioners continue to value these practices. This suggests that the key challenge is not their applicability but navigating the complex balance between cybersecurity and humanitarian needs. Treating cybersecurity as a mere checklist is therefore ineffective for these organizations; instead, humanitarian organizations must determine which measures hold the greatest value and how to integrate them without compromising the organization’s mission. Accordingly, this study stresses the need to rethink cybersecurity not as an isolated concern, but as an integral element of humanitarian decision-making.