Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress (CAP) serves as a pillar in the American policy landscape, developing ideas designed to improve lives and shape national debate. As a public policy institute, their work spans vital issues from democracy and the rule of law to economic security and climate energy.
However, operating at the intersection of high-stakes policy and public discourse makes their digital infrastructure a frequent target. For CAP, cybersecurity is not just a technical requirement but a necessity for institutional integrity; their web presence is a vehicle for reaching their audiences. To ensure their research remains accessible and unaltered during politically sensitive moments, CAP leverages Project Galileo to maintain a "defense-in-depth" posture that protects the availability and authenticity of their mission-critical content.
"Our websites are central to how we fulfill our mission... If our sites are slowed down, taken offline, or manipulated, our ability to inform public debate and support evidence-based policymaking is directly harmed." says Shar Ghavami, Vice President of Digital Technology at CAP.
Before joining Project Galileo, CAP faced the "classic nonprofit challenge": the need for security tools without the prohibitive costs or complexity that could drain limited internal resources. Prior to onboarding, the organization’s previous setup on AWS using CloudFront required manual adjustments to address recurring security concerns.
Prior to onboarding, the organization’s previous setup on AWS using CloudFront required manual adjustments to manage persistent, hourly threats from hostile foreign entities.
Since transitioning to Cloudflare, those targeted attacks have ceased to disrupt operations. The move has provided the team with a "self-sufficient" security layer, allowing them to shift their focus from reactive firefighting to proactive policy work.
"Cloudflare offered a way to strengthen our protections, improve performance, and gain better visibility into traffic without adding substantial cost or complexity." says Ghavami.
The Center for American Progress utilizes a layered approach to security, ensuring that their outreach platforms, run on WordPress VIP, remain fast and resilient.
- DDoS Mitigation: Provides network-level protection that ensures CAP’s websites stay available even during coordinated traffic spikes. Since joining Galileo, the organization has seen a total cessation of the persistent hourly attacks that once plagued their infrastructure.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF): CAP employs the WAF and custom security rules to prevent abuse such as credential-stuffing and automated scraping. This effectively maintains the integrity of their research, ensuring the public consumes authentic, unaltered information.
- Caching and Performance Optimization: Beyond security, these tools have noticeably improved site speed. By storing content closer to the user, Cloudflare reduces the load on CAP’s infrastructure, allowing a small digital team to manage high-visibility properties effectively.
The impact of Project Galileo extends beyond technical metrics; it is a vital contributor to CAP’s operational efficiency. Without these protections, the organization would face significantly higher costs, not just in platform fees, but in the human resources required to develop and maintain lower-level security measures.
By removing the need for highly specialized personnel to constantly manage threats, Cloudflare allows CAP to remain a "lean" but powerful voice in public policy. The result is a more stable performance during high-interest news cycles and the confidence that their digital presence is a secure harbor for evidence-based debate.
"Operations would be costlier, not just in terms of platform fees but significantly in human resources... [Cloudflare provides] a meaningful safety net for a small digital team managing high-visibility properties."
