UC Berkeley Citizen Clinic Cyber
CISA does not endorse any commercial product or service. CISA does not attest to the suitability or effectiveness of these services and resources for any particular use case. Any reference to specific commercial products, processes, or services by service mark, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply their endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by CISA.
Description
The Citizen Clinic is a public-interest digital security clinic that provides direct, hands-on support to nonprofit civil society organizations. Citizen Clinic recognizes the critical role that these organizations play in maintaining a healthy democracy and the unique threats that they face, including targeted surveillance and cyberattacks. The clinic also understands the operational and budgetary constraints that make it difficult for these organizations to defend themselves against cyberattacks. Citizen Clinic aims to fill this gap in capacity to defend civil society organizations against digital security threats.
Services provided: Cyber assessment services.
Request Services and Volunteer
- Criteria to Request Services:
- Citizen Clinic accepts requests from high-risk civil society organizations.
- Citizen Clinic considers a non-governmental organization to be “high-risk” if it is under attack from motivated or well-funded adversaries, subject to powerful surveillance tools, or the target of threats of physical violence or doxxing against directors and volunteers. Many high-risk nonprofits serve under-represented clients such as indigenous populations, LGBTQ+ individuals, women that seek support related to reproductive health, migrants seeking legal and medical services, human rights activists, and political and policy activists.
- Request Services:
- Access the “Prospective Clients” section of the Citizen Clinic webpage and email citizenclinic@ischool.berkeley.edu.
- Criteria to Volunteer:
- Must be an active student at the University of California, Berkeley to participate in the Clinic.
- Cybersecurity professionals can also volunteer to mentor students participating in the Citizen Clinic and assist with client assessments.
- Apply to Volunteer:
- Students can apply to enroll in Digital Security for Civil Society, the class associated with the Citizen Clinic, here: Citizen Clinic Application | UC Berkeley School of Information.
- Professional volunteers should contact the email address listed under “Thank You to Our Supporters” to discuss opportunities to support the Clinic: Citizen Clinic | UC Berkeley School of Information.
DISCLAIMER
The cybersecurity volunteer program described on this fact sheet is operated by an independent third party and not by CISA or the federal government. CISA does not attest to the suitability or effectiveness of these volunteer programs for any particular use case. CISA does not endorse any third-party product or service. Any reference to specific third-party products, processes, or services by service mark, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply their endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by CISA.