Greenpeace Canada Education Fund
The Greenpeace Canada Education Fund (GCEF) is a charity dedicated to closing the knowledge gap on environmental, climate, and energy issues. Through public education and rigorous research, GCEF aims to empower Canadians to navigate disinformation and advocate for strong, science-backed climate action.
As part of the global Greenpeace network, which holds general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, GCEF plays a critical role in advancing environmental awareness both nationally and globally.
“We see education as a powerful tool in the climate movement,” says Jackie Gallagher, Director of the Greenpeace Canada Education Fund. “Our mission is to make environmental data and science accessible so people can take meaningful action for the planet.”
Over the past year, GCEF has expanded its digital Education Hub, launching new environmental education resources for students, teachers, and the general public.
Joining Project Galileo
Given the nature of its work, sharing independent environmental research and public education on climate and energy issues, GCEF operates in an environment where legal and cybersecurity risks are present. These risks include potential privacy policy breaches, data exposure, and unauthorized access. Greenpeace, the broader organization to which the Fund is affiliated, has historically faced legal challenges, corporate espionage, and has been the target of cyber incidents.
These factors contributed to the GCEF’s decision to join Project Galileo in July 2024, seeking a more secure, reliable, and accessible digital infrastructure. Through the program, the Fund aimed to mitigate potential threats while ensuring its educational content remains accessible to the public without disruption.
“Before Project Galileo, we struggled with DNS management and detecting real-time security threats. We needed a secure, cost-effective, and user-friendly solution, and Cloudflare delivered,” says Gallagher.
Improved Security and Visibility with Cloudflare
Since onboarding, GCEF has benefited from Cloudflare’s DNS, Web Application Firewall (WAF), and Email protection services. The improvements were immediate:
- Simplified DNS management as it offers greater control and transparency, which means the organization can more easily manage its domain name system records. This can improve site availability and performance, and also help prevent some types of cyberattacks that target DNS systems.
- WAF-protected infrastructure which blocks anomalous activity and mitigates threats before they impact the site. This helps to protect against things like SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other common web exploits.
- Better insight into traffic patterns and potential vulnerabilities. This increased visibility allows them to detect and respond to threats more quickly and proactively, and also helps them to understand how their site is being used.
“Cloudflare gave us the peace of mind we didn’t know we were missing,” Gallagher adds. “Plus, it's fun to tell people our encryption is powered by lava lamps!”
The global Greenpeace network has been actively enhancing its cybersecurity framework to better protect users and organizational data across all national and regional offices. As part of this effort, the organization has implemented Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) and introduced stronger authentication protocols, including Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Single Sign-On (SSO), to secure user access. To improve identity and access management, the network transitioned from Google and OpenIAM to Okta. Currently, the organization is in the process of implementing a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy based on the Center for Internet Security’s CIS 18 framework.
Looking Ahead
While GCEF has not yet experienced a direct cyberattack, it regularly monitors bot activity and remains proactive about its online defence. GCEF is currently exploring Turnstile, Cloudflare’s CAPTCHA replacement solution, and other tools to further reduce spam and strengthen user trust.
“Cloudflare allows us to stay focused on what really matters: informing the public and inspiring action toward a more sustainable future,” says Gallagher.
