EngageMedia
EngageMedia is a nonprofit dedicated to defending digital rights and supporting advocates for human rights, democracy, and environmental sustainability, particularly across the Asia-Pacific. The organization uses video, technology, and collaboration to empower changemakers, ensuring that communities have the tools they need to create a more just, open, and sustainable world.
“We strive to make sure communities that we collaborate with have the tools and support they need to advocate for and create a more just, open, and sustainable world,” said Meg Soriano, Program Coordinator at EngageMedia.
Founded in 2005, EngageMedia began as an open-source film platform focused on social issues in the Asia-Pacific region. Over the years, the organization has evolved to lead digital rights advocacy in the region, providing tools and support for those working on human rights, democracy, and environmental protection.
“We’ve come a long way since our early days as a film platform. Now, we’re at the forefront of digital rights advocacy in the Asia-Pacific region, empowering those who protect human rights and social justice,” said Khairil Zhafri, a Human Rights Technology and Research Project Lead at EngageMedia.
EngageMedia has several initiatives, including: - Human Rights Technology Initiative: This initiative aims to enhance digital security for human rights defenders across the Asia-Pacific. These individuals often work in highly restrictive environments where surveillance, censorship, and repression are widespread. EngageMedia offers critical training, tools, and community-driven solutions tailored to the unique needs of human rights advocates in the region. “One of the most important parts of this initiative is making sure the resources are culturally relevant and accessible, especially considering the barriers to adopting secure technology in some regions,” said Meg Soriano.
- DRAPAC VPN Project: Through collaboration with our partners Reporters Without Borders, eQualitie, Digital Defenders Partnership, SAFEnet, Exile Hub, DigiSecLab, and Spring Revolution Security the DRAPAC VPN Project provides free and secure internet access to activists, journalists, and researchers in restrictive digital environments. Using Outline VPN, the project enables users to bypass government censorship and stay connected with vital information.
For EngageMedia, a strong web presence is crucial to connecting with stakeholders, delivering services, and promoting digital rights. Cybersecurity is especially important to protect sensitive data and ensure operational uptime.
“Our web presence is critical to our operations. It's the main gateway through which we communicate and deliver services to our partners,” said Meg Soriano. “Cybersecurity tools are essential to protect sensitive data, ensure uptime, and maintain our platform’s integrity.”
Prior to using Cloudflare, EngageMedia faced several cybersecurity challenges, including brute-force attacks, DDoS attacks, and phishing emails. The organization joined Project Galileo and since onboarding, the organization has seen a substantial improvement.
EngageMedia utilizes a variety of Cloudflare tools to enhance their web security and performance. The organization uses the Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect numerous self-hosted, web-based tools used both internally and externally. To mitigate abuse of their self-hosted Jitsi Meet video conferencing platform, EngageMedia leverages Cloudflare's Managed Challenge feature, effectively blocking bots and malicious users. For their content management system's backend, Cloudflare Access is implemented to control login access to approved personnel only, providing a more robust security layer than standard WordPress plugins. Additionally, Cloudflare Automatic Platform Optimization (APO) service is used to improve website load times for their WordPress site.
“Our experience with Cloudflare has been seamless. The tools are easy to implement, and the support team has been incredibly responsive,” said Soriano.
Over a 30-day period, EngageMedia has observed 61.6 million requests to their website being encrypted, indicating robust security and the protection of user data during transmission. During that same period, 4.31 terabytes of data were transferred over encrypted connections, highlighting both the high volume of secure content delivered and the significant traffic their site handles.
"We're incredibly excited to continue our partnership with Cloudflare. Their security solutions not only safeguard our own infrastructure, but crucially, they enable us to reliably provide essential services to the communities we support. Our work with Cloudflare empowers us to focus on our mission of defending digital rights and empowering change-makers across the Asia-Pacific, knowing our digital foundation is secure." - Khairil Zhafri
