Project Ainita
Mapping Freedom: How Project Ainita Defends the Open Internet in High-Risk Regions
Project Ainita is an engineering collective that develops tools and research for human rights organizations, lawyers, and activists operating in high-risk environments. Project Ainita leverages Project Galileo to safeguard its research portals and infrastructure against disruption, particularly from state-sponsored attacks. Project Ainita builds tools to support human rights defenders, digital activists, and journalists such as Taya, a secure virtual phone number service designed specifically to protect at-risk users from surveillance. Another impactful initiative that Project Ainita is currently developing is Duta. In countries where governments frequently cut off Internet "kill access" for ordinary people. Duta uses an innovative, lightweight protocol to transport news via text—stripping away heavy videos and images—so that information can still flow even during severe network disruptions. Project Galileo’s protection is crucial for distributing their specialized transport protocol, which is engineered to maintain resistance to interference during Internet shutdowns.
Additionally, Ainita creates Internet Maps to visualize the network architecture of various countries. As Ainita’s Project Director explains, if you aren't a network engineer, the Internet feels like something "intangible in the clouds." These interactive maps help people visualize how their networks are connected and where disruptions are occurring.
The Mission: Engineering for Human Rights
Founded in 2012, Project Ainita operates at the intersection of technical innovation and social justice. Their work involves providing engineering capacity to those on the front lines of Internet censorship and surveillance.
"We develop bespoke tools and engineering capacity... for human rights organizations, human rights lawyers, anybody who is in this Internet censorship and surveillance space." — Founding Director of Project Ainita
For the project, cybersecurity isn't just a technical requirement, it is a prerequisite for the safety of the activists and lawyers they support.
"Cloudflare stands out for two things: they pay attention to the retail customers—the average Joe who doesn't have $10,000 a month for an enterprise account—and they are very technologically innovative. The product suite is great. We use everything; what else can you ask for?" - Founding Director of Project Ainita
Before joining Project Galileo, Project Ainita utilized Cloudflare’s Free and Pro plans. However, as their research became more complex and the threats more targeted, the transition to Project Galileo provided the "turnkey service" necessary to defend against high-level digital adversaries.
Cloudflare Products & Impact
Project Ainita makes use of a wide range of Cloudflare’s services to maintain its operations:
- Cloudflare Zero Trust (Access): This is critical for Ainita’s CTI (Cyber Threat Intelligence) portal. They use Zero Trust to hide sensitive research and data behind a secure layer, ensuring only authorized researchers can access it.
- Cloudflare Pages: Used to host and deploy their public-facing websites and research documentation quickly and securely.
- DDoS Mitigation: Provides an "insurance policy" against attacks. Cloudflare’s automated mitigation ensures that even "mild" or random attacks never take their services offline.
- DNS & CDN: Forms the backbone of their global reach, providing the speed and reliability needed for users in regions with poor connectivity.
For Project Ainita, the value of Project Galileo is both financial and functional. Without it, the organization would face a monthly "out of pocket" cost —a significant burden for a human rights project.
"It’s like having very good insurance. Hopefully you're not going to use it, but if you have to use it, it better perform well. We hide the stuff we do not want the public to see... behind Cloudflare Zero Trust. Everything works, and we’re very happy with it." - Founding Director of Project Ainita
As Project Ainita continues to map the world’s networks and build protocols like Duta, Cloudflare remains committed to ensuring that their mission, and the mission of the activists they support, is never silenced by a cyber attack.
