After one of the nation's most devastating cyber attacks on Sony Entertainment, businesses everywhere are seeking out help from various technology groups to strengthen their security and avoid hacking issues in the future. A technology group is urging religious and other nonprofits to be particularly proactive in protecting their personal and financial data.

Dan Webb, vice president of Technology Solutions and Services at TechSoup Global, says the organization has partnered with Bitdefender, an award-winning pioneer in security solutions, to give churches and religious organizations access to donated Internet security software.

Webb believes that the software will help protect churches by giving them the most up-to-date resources that are available. Security breaches can be detrimental to churches and ministries which could result in a loss of contributions and moreover the organizations’ reputation within the community.

With TechSoup.org, nonprofits can access free software and technology. TechSoup donated more than $37 million in technology products and services to churches and religious nonprofits over the past year.

It is averaged that there are at least 40,000 security threats each day however, only a small amount of those are targeted at nonprofit organizations within the United States. When extortionists target a nonprofit organization their viruses are contingent on by asking for money and other personal data from individuals. The partnership between Bitdefender and TechSoup will hopefully reduce these e-risks by using technology to target offenders and put an end to their antics. Their new technologies combine artificial intelligence and advanced anti-ransomware defense mechanisms to make sure charities and churches across the United States can protect all of their valuable data.

Churches and other nonprofits rely heavily on donations from their following. If the public feels like their own security is at jeopardy then they will opt out of providing their generous dollars which will lead to the downfall of organizations doing great efforts. Therefore, security organizations are recommending that churches and nonprofits limit the handlers of financial records and other sensitive information. In addition, they are recommending other safe falls pertaining to credit card information in relation to donations made with credit and debit cards, Paypal and other electronic sources.