Nonprofits are under attack—literally. Organizational leadership continues to instruct IT teams to do more with less. Lean IT teams are getting pounded with the operational day-to-day and with one fire drill after the next, the most important security initiatives around Zero Trust, SASE, Network Access Control (NAC) and Identity Access Management (IAM) get sidelined, leaving critical gaps unresolved. BAM! there’s your breach potential – all of which could have been avoided with proper planning and the right teams in place.
The cybercriminals know that, and they are doubling down on attack frequency. With increasing frequency, mission-driven organizations are being targeted by cybercriminals who see vulnerable infrastructure, sensitive data, and under-resourced IT teams as easy opportunities. At Sniper Watch, we work directly with nonprofits that handle donor, beneficiary, and health-related data—and we’ve seen firsthand how unprepared most organizations are for a cyber incident.
Here’s our breakdown of 11 mission-critical actions nonprofits must take after a breach—and how to position for prevention so you’re never caught off guard again.
1. Execute Your Incident Response Plan Immediately
When a breach hits, time isn’t your friend—it’s your enemy. If you have an incident response plan, trigger it without delay. If you don’t, building one should become your top priority before the next attack. At Sniper Watch, we help nonprofits pre-stage response playbooks tailored to their environment so leadership isn’t improvising during a crisis. We continue to say, “Be prepared so you never have to get ready…“
2. Communicate Transparently
Trust is your most valuable currency. Once a breach occurs, be honest, clear, and proactive in explaining what happened, how you’re responding, and what steps you’re taking to ensure it never happens again. Stakeholders will forgive a breach—they won’t forgive a cover-up. Again, be prepared with actionable tasks regarding who will be disseminating information externally as well as internally, and what contextual data can be disclosed at each stage of the breach lifecycle.
3. Align Communication Across All Stakeholders
Nonprofits need unified, coordinated messaging to internal teams, donors, partners, and compliance agencies. Form a core response team—your “incident command”—to ensure the right people are saying the right things at the right time.
4. Leverage Your Board Strategically
Your board isn’t just a governance body—it’s a resource. If you lack technical expertise, now’s the time to recruit it. At Sniper Watch, we often act as the embedded cyber partner your board wishes you had before the breach occurred. We don’t just advise you what to do, we are a force multiplier in actually making the hard stuff work together to get you the outcome you are seeking.
5. Conduct a Risk Assessment
Don’t just recover—learn. A post-incident risk assessment will identify what went wrong, where vulnerabilities lie, and how to close gaps. Every Sniper Watch engagement includes a technical deep dive to help nonprofits prioritize investments that make real impact. In our research, we’ve discovered that 73% of organizations received a risk report and did nothing to implement the recommendations. This would be a compliance violation and subject to fines and penalties.
6. Embrace Privacy by Design
Security shouldn’t be bolted on—it should be built in. As your nonprofit evolves its systems, Sniper Watch helps you apply “privacy by design” principles so sensitive data is protected at the code, architecture, and process level.
7. Prioritize Prevention
Prevention isn’t a buzzword—it’s the foundation of cyber resilience. From email protection to endpoint defense and identity access control, every layer of your infrastructure must be accounted for. We help nonprofits build sustainable, scalable frameworks to stay ahead of attackers.
8. Confirm and Maximize Cyber Insurance
If you have cyber liability coverage, notify your carrier immediately post-breach. If you don’t have coverage, you’re operating with unnecessary exposure. We work with clients to align cyber risk with proper policy coverage—before it’s too late. If you’ve read this far, schedule a call with our team and mention code #elite-licensing to get qualified for an 80% discount on your cyber insurance of your choosing.
9. Train Your Team—Constantly
Your people are your first line of defense. There’s no substitute for proper cybersecurity hygiene. From two-factor authentication to phishing simulations, we design user awareness programs that actually change behavior—not just check compliance boxes.
10. Investigate the Root Cause
Post-incident response without root cause analysis is incomplete. Sniper Watch conducts forensic investigations (Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR)) to pinpoint exactly how the breach occurred and ensure that it can’t happen again. Publicly sharing these improvements rebuilds trust and demonstrates accountability. The best defense is having a strong offense. Proactive measures taken now will save you time and money being reactive later.
11. Rethink What Data You Really Need
Data minimization is a powerful (and often overlooked) risk reduction tactic. We help nonprofits inventory sensitive data, reduce unnecessary retention, and implement data governance policies to shrink the attack surface.
Final Word: Breach Recovery Is Just the Beginning
Recovering from a cyberattack is painful—but the organizations that survive and thrive are the ones that use the moment to build something better. At Sniper Watch, we specialize in helping nonprofits secure donor trust, reduce cyber risk, and build sustainable security strategies that grow with your mission.
If you’re recovering from an incident—or want to make sure you never have to—we’re here to help.
Spots in our Mission-Critical Cyber Resilience Program is limited. We can only take on a select number of qualified clients each month. Schedule a call to learn more about how you can mitigate and eliminate breach potential and devastating financial losses while retaining your brand reputation.
“Trust is earned, not requested…“
– Sniper Watch
