How Save the Children Strengthens Security and Prioritizes What Matters

TL;DR

Save the Children is a global non-profit that operates critical programs for vulnerable communities across more than twenty countries. Their decentralized structure left the security team with no unified view of exposure across on-premises servers, cloud services, and remote users. XM Cyber mapped real attack paths across the entire hybrid environment and showed the team which exposures could reach critical assets.

The Challenge

Christophe Denis, CISO, Vinci Construction

Save the Children operates critical programs across more than twenty countries, managing sensitive donor and beneficiary data globally. This diverse structure, where each location manages its own systems, created significant hurdles in maintaining consistent visibility and control across the entire organization. The security team desperately needed a single, unified view of their exposure that could span on-premises servers, cloud applications, and remote users. A major concern was the lack of insight into potential attack paths.

“We had limited knowledge of how privileges could leak in our environments. That made it difficult to see how unnecessary or excessive access rights could be abused and how attackers might move toward critical assets.”

Rick Marino, Cyber Security Analyst , Save the Children

This lack of cross-environment visibility left the security team without clear priorities and eroded their confidence in focusing their limited resources. Building a unified and actionable view of exposure became essential to effectively strengthen protection across their global mission.

The Solution

Save the Children selected XM Cyber to gain a unified and actionable view of risk across its entire hybrid environment. The security team, responsible for on-premises systems, remote users, and a growing mix of cloud services, required one platform that could accurately show how an attacker would move through all of these interconnected pieces. 

XM Cyber provided this crucial capability by mapping real attack paths and clearly showing which exposures could lead to critical assets. This crucial functionality links each security issue directly to its business impact, allowing the team to focus on the risks that matter most instead of treating every alert as equal.

“We can map our critical assets now in XM Cyber and tie those to business criticalities so that we can paint that picture to the executives.”

Rick Marino, Cyber Security Analyst , Save the Children

Benefits & Outcomes

XM Cyber gave Save the Children a practical framework to translate complex security data into confident decisions. The platform helped the team quickly identify what truly mattered, enabling them to act fast and communicate clearly with leadership.

The platform replaced uncertainty with measurable progress, highlighting which specific fixes directly reduced exposure to critical risk. Security reviews transformed from crisis meetings into productive working sessions, with IT and security teams sharing a single source of truth to guide remediation. The platform replaced a reactive, ad hoc approach with a continuous process for identifying and reducing exposure.

Key Takeaways

• Save the Children's decentralized global structure meant the security team had no unified view of exposure across on-premises servers, cloud applications, and remote users.
• XM Cyber mapped real attack paths and linked each security issue to its business impact, replacing guesswork with clear priorities.
• The platform gave the team a practical way to translate complex security data into confident decisions - and communicate progress to leadership.
• XM Cyber helped a small security team do more with less, expanding their visibility and reach across a global infrastructure.
• XM Cyber acts as  far more than a vendor; it functions as an extended part of the security team. The platform’s automation enhances visibility and reach, while the ongoing collaboration ensures the security team remains laser-focused on the highest priorities.