CloudFlare Protects The Public Against DDoS Attacks With Project Galileo

The Internet is as wide and wonderful as it is dark and dangerous. So many individuals and groups use it as a powerful platform for advocacy, raising awareness, disseminating “dangerous” (to tyrants) ideas, and more, but all too often those entities face threats from actors looking to censor them, knocking them offline using DDoS attacks.

Cloud provider CloudFlare has unveiled something called Project Galileo that seeks to protect against those threats. “CloudFlare is partnering with NGOs and civil society groups to identify outlets for free-expression online,” reads the website. “Once identified, CloudFlare will extend our Enterprise-class DDoS protection to ensure these websites stay online, protecting their voice from being silenced.”


Project Galileo is a free service, and the company says that when one of its partner sites comes under attack, it will extend its “full protection” to fend it off, regardless of that site’s location and content.

The criteria for inclusion in Project Galileo are as follows:

It is engaged in news gathering, civil society, or political/artistic speech.
It is the subject of online attacks related to its news gathering, civil society, or political/artistic speech.
It is a not-for-profit organization or a small commercial entity.
It acts in the public interest, broadly defined.

CloudFlare will not publicly disclose which sites are in the program, but it has posted a short list of partners including the ACLU, Mozilla, and more. Organizations can apply for inclusion here.