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On Think Tanks was founded in mid 2010. It has evolved from a blog into a global platform dedicated to study and support policy research and policy research centres, or think tanks. The members of the On Think Tanks Team and its Advisory Board are spread out across 6 continents!

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Cybersecurity for think tanks

In this series, we want to take a closer look at the security challenges posed to think tanks by this new situation, and provide both technical background information and practical advice for how to create safer spaces for sensitive conversations online. It will also be great to hear about your own experiences and exchange good practices! Please don’t hesitate to get in touch and let us know how you have been dealing with this.
  1. 1

    Cybersecurity for think tanks part one: shock digitisation

    The COVID-19 crisis has led to what many felt was a ‘shock digitisation’ of the world: in a matter of weeks, all day to day activities had to be digitised to support working from home and to maintain social distancing. Political institutions, schools, and companies moved their operations... Read full article
  2. 2

    Cybersecurity for think tanks part two: know your risks, threats and set up

    The more aspects of your day to day operations get digitised, the more important IT-security becomes. The risk of a fast-paced ‘shock digitisation’ is that security becomes an afterthought, because in the short-term, functioning systems are more important than secure ones. But IT security,... Read full article
  3. 3

    Cybersecurity for think tanks part three: what to do

    Now that you know what the main cybersecurity risks and threats for think tanks are (read part two of this series), what can you do to protect your organisation and create safe spaces for sensitive conversations online? To help you with this process we present some of our lessons... Read full article
  4. 4

    Cybersecurity for think tanks part four: the bright and dark sides of Zoom

    In mid-April, during a web event in our #DigitalThinkTanking series, we surveyed thinktankers on which video-conferencing tools their think tank uses for online events. This is what we found: In other words: an overwhelming majority of think tanks use Zoom. The results of our quick... Read full article
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    Cybersecurity for think tanks part five: how to create safer spaces for sensitive conversations online

    Many think tanks are in the business of ‘off the record’ meetings and confidential policy advice. After all, this is one of the central offers we make to policymakers: we create safe spaces to think through and discuss an idea before it goes out into the open. Some of us also work on... Read full article