What is the name of your organization?
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What is the name of your solution?
Shira
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
An anti-training phishing platform that empowers users to build digital literacy and stay safe online.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Washington, DC, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
USA
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
Phishing attacks are one of the most widespread and harmful digital threats in the world. The scale is massive, as phishing impacts virtually all of the 5.56 billion people who use the internet – from individual users, to businesses, to large institutions. In 2025, it is estimated that 3.4 billion phishing emails are sent daily. In fact, 91% of cyberattacks start with a phishing email. And while phishing was initially limited to email, it is now also widespread through SMS, voice calls, QR codes, and more.
The threat and impact of phishing have grown exponentially as our lives have become more and more digitized. As so many of the business and government services we receive rely on technology, there is a mismatch: the pace of technological adoption far exceeds society’s digital safety skills and ability to cope with online threats. As a result, billions of people who rely on the internet every day are ill-equipped to protect their data, identities and safety. This impact is disproportionately felt by communities with less digital literacy and educational access, especially users in less resourced regions.
What is your solution?
Shira is an easy-to-use, highly accessible platform for anyone to build their skills in identifying and defeating phishing attacks. Shira lets users take customized quizzes that display emails and messages in interfaces similar to the ones users use in real life: in Gmail, SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc. Each quiz question displays an email or message and the user must look for clues on whether the email or message seems like a phishing attack or legitimate communication.
Because Shira lets users customize their quizzes based on the apps they use on a daily basis and the topics that are relevant to them, and displays the emails and messages in highly realistic interfaces, users become prepared for the real-life attacks they are likely to face at one point or another.
Shira is available on any web browser, both on computers and on mobile.
You can see this in our pitch video: https://vimeo.com/1076293058.
You can also test it yourself here: https://quiz.shira.app
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
While using Shira is beneficial to anyone who uses the internet, it is particularly impactful among people who have limited tech literacy. Indeed, users who are unfamiliar with phishing and who do not fully understand how the internet works are most at-risk of falling for social engineering attacks: they are the ones most likely to click on malicious links, to download malware on their devices, or share sensitive personal or financial information with attackers. Sadly, those with limited tech literacy are usually people who already face socio-economic or educational hardships, and falling for phishing attacks can lead to disastrous consequences in their lives.
Shira is already used by individuals, digital security trainers and organizations worldwide. For example, a digital security educator in East Africa has trained over 1200 users using Shira, with a focus on journalists, LGBTQ groups and communities escaping conflict zones.
With Shira, individuals can build practical skills and knowledge around phishing attacks to remain safe online. Shira teaches users what phishing is, not by explaining what phishing is or how it works, but through concrete simulations alike the situations users will face in real life.