Case Study: International Republican Institute achieves global email security and protection for field staff with Virtru

How the International Republican Institute Protects Freedom with the Flip of a Switch

The International Republican Institute (IRI), a democracy-building nonprofit with more than 500 employees across 32 countries, needed a simple, reliable way to protect sensitive communications in high-risk, often surveilled environments. CIO Shawn Beighle selected Virtru to provide client-side email and attachment encryption so field teams could securely coordinate events, protect membership data, and avoid dangerous workarounds.

Virtru was remotely deployed across IRI’s offices and mobile devices in seconds with no formal training required; within a week adoption spread and the tool became mandatory. Virtru’s capabilities—disable forwarding, revoke sent messages, in-browser secure replies and admin controls—allowed IRI to restore use of official email addresses, reduce exposure of volunteers and staff, and meet government email-retention and compliance requirements, letting the organization focus on its mission.

International Republican Institute

Shawn Beighle

Information and Technology Director, International Republican Institute