The Challenge: 

Seeing the Whole Picture

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.

Visibility Gaps and Excessive Access

A major concern was the lack of insight into potential attack paths. As Rick Marino, Cyber Security Analyst at Save the Children, noted: “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.”

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: 

Turning Visibility into Action

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.”

Benefits and Outcomes:

Confidence Through Clarity

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. It replaced uncertainty with measurable progress, highlighting which specific fixes directly reduced their exposure to critical risk. “Without XM Cyber, we would be totally reactive and ad hoc. It probably gives me my greatest ability to be proactive out of all the systems I have,” said Rick. “It’s so important for me to have XM Cyber as a great support – I can bounce questions off of them, I can Slack them, send emails, and I never have a missed email. “

Security reviews have transformed from crisis meetings into productive working sessions. Now, IT and security teams share a single source of truth via XM Cyber, using it to guide remediation efforts and verify measurable security improvements. The result is a steady, continuous process that elevates overall security posture and reinforces trust across the organization.

Recommendation and Future Outlook:

A True Partner in the Mission

The relationship with XM Cyber is more than a vendor engagement; 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.
“Having the partnership with XM Cyber expands my ability to do impactful things. As the system expands, it gives me more tools.”

This relationship has become a cornerstone of daily security operations. It strengthens focus, streamlines effort, and powerfully supports Save the Children’s mission to keep its digital foundation secure for the vulnerable communities it serves globally.