Digital Security for Journalists Requires an Adaptable Toolkit

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We are ---- An **NGO** defending the freedom of information

When it comes to digital security, what have in common:

  • A journalist from West Africa,
  • A Syrian journalist based in Turkey,
  • A French journalist on a reporting trip to Kashmir ?
You need to learn which tools and which best practices fit your own specific situation and environment.

1. Securisation of a syrian media exiled in Turkey

Context

Journalists from an independent Syrian media outlet based in Istanbul asked for Nothing2Hide help to make their systems secure. They are in a very delicate situation; they work on a daily basis with journalists based inside Syria.

Solution

  • No Google Drive or dropbox (an explicit request on the journalists’ part)
  • installation of a software allowing the team to save and encrypt files on N2H servers with a click of the mouse
  • with a non blocked VPN in Turkey (WireGuard rather than open vpn)

Avoid Changing Work Methods in order to get people to adopt security measures durably

2. Journalist in Togo

Context

Arbitrary arrests, violence, and torture can surmount the most robust of passwords.

Solution

  • Leave the fewest possible traces on smartphones
  • Using secure tools such as proton mail through private navigation
  • And a VPN

Turning Your Smartphone into a safe Can Be Counter-Productive

3. A French journalist in Kashmir

Context

Kashmir: a region where foreign reporters run the risk of getting arrested and kicked out.

Solution

Plan A: Internet connection

Photos uploaded once a day to one of our servers. When the upload was complete, the files were copied onto a second server and erased from the first

Plan B: no Internet connection

Files encryptted using veracrypt an hidden amongst multimedia files as .mp3 or .mov.

It's always a good idea to have a plan B

There is not such thing as a magical tool. Each situation needs an assessment and an according set of tools.

Security is a process, not a product

Questions ?

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