eQualitie is a Canadian

digital security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and networks from thre ...

organisation focused on the development and distribution of free,

open-source software Open-source software (OSS) is Software, computer software that is released under a Open-source license, license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and Software distribution, distribute the software an ...

, services and security training to

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.NGO's A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

, investigative journalists and independent media to protect and promote human rights and press freedom online. The group is based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada.

History

The group was founded in 2011 by ethical hacker, digital security entrepreneur and journalist Dmitri Vitaliev. Principally known for its

DDoS mitigation DDoS mitigation is a set of network management techniques and tools for resisting or mitigating the impact of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on networks attached to the Internet by protecting the target and relay networks. DDoS atta ...

service

Deflect Deflection or deflexion may refer to: Board games * Deflection (chess), a tactic that forces an opposing chess piece to leave a square * Khet (game), formerly ''Deflexion'', an Egyptian-themed chess-like game using lasers Mechanics * Deflection ...

, the group also provides circumvention tools for users operating inside National Intranets and digital security training to activists and journalists. eQualitie has helped establish digital security schools in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. They have also become known for assisting site owners defending themselves against Social engineering attacks. eQualitie has also been acknowledged by the think tank and media organisation Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa for its help, contributed to a UN report on digital safety for journalists and regularly participates at the

Internet Governance Forum The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a multistakeholder governance group for policy dialogue on issues of Internet governance. It brings together all stakeholders in the Internet governance debate, whether they represent governments, the pri ...

eQualitie is a member of the

Association for Progressive Communications The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network of organizations that was founded in 1990 to provide communication infrastructure, including Internet-based applications, to groups and individuals who work for peace ...

and works closely with fellow members on digital security and DDoS mitigation. The company distributes the code for all its tools on

GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...

and frequently publishes detailed reports on the performance of these tools and services

References

{{reflist

External links

Official site
Non-profit organizations based in Montreal Organizations established in 2011 2011 establishments in Quebec