Digital Security Articles & Newsletters

Both the newsroom and individual journalists must make some changes to work from home securely.

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One of the most common ways people get hacked is through phishing — when an attacker impersonates a trusted website to trick you into entering your credentials. But what if you never had to type in a password? Passwordless logins — known as passkeys — reduce your risk by enabling …

By the end of 2021, TikTok reached one billion monthly users, becoming one of the most popular social media platforms globally. In the United States, the platform was one of the few that significantly increased its share of users who said they regularly use the platform to get their …

A study of mob censorship of journalists, and how media organizations and platforms are responding.

What journalists can do to better manage digital security for sources when reporting on abortion.

Source protection is a paramount concern for journalists in every beat. Platforms like SecureDrop and apps like Signal allow you the ability to securely and privately speak with whistleblowers to break important stories. Beyond protecting the confidentiality of these conversations, however, is the concern for the metadata, or data about data, that identifies who you’ve been talking to.

If you use Signal, the secure messaging app, you may have thought about getting a second account. The good news is you don’t need another phone plan to use a second Signal account, and you may be able to set it up on a range of devices.We’ll walk …

Journalistic work often depends on transcription services for creating written logs of recorded audio to assist in research, caption videos, and publish interviews. But uploading audio to a transcription service means giving a copy of that — sometimes sensitive — recording over to a company

Today, we're launching an interactive digital security platform and free clinic for filmmakers.

At Freedom of the Press Foundation, we assist journalists on their digital security habits to help them work more safely and sustainably. So we take it a little personally when private spyware companies are actively making journalists less safe by selling their services to repressive governments. We are now learning …

In journalistic work, email introduces needless risk. But it's also tough to avoid. We must think through when and how to switch to different channels.

How do most U.S. journalism schools instruct on digital security? Our research suggests there's a long way to go.

When working together online, chat tools like Slack are useful, but allow the service provider to read your messages. Keybase simplifies the process of sharing files and having conversations securely.Keybase is end-to-end encrypted, meaning that only you and your conversational partners can read the messages and files you …

We're thrilled that you are reading this, because it means you're taking a step toward equipping your students to protect themselves and the people around them, while they work on the web. We put together this README to let you know what's in the curriculum, how it all fits together, …

This module begins with a short discussion about information hidden in files, and the potential risks tied to file metadata. It follows with a short exercise to have students find the file metadata embedded in a photo, followed by discussion of risk minimization.PrerequisitesThreat modeling(Good to know) Malware …

This module will not provide an exhaustive look at this topic, but will instead provide the starting point for students to know how to investigate their digital security questions as needed.This lecture and activities will briefly introduce several foundational topics on digital security, including the basics of risk assessment, …

This module begins with a walkthrough of a few examples of legal requests that have affected news organizations' communications, with emphasis on the underlying authorities and how they might apply more broadly. In the latter half of the lecture, instructors may ask students to investigate a transparency report for a …

Threat modeling is foundational to thinking through security broadly, and we therefore introduce it before several other more technical topics. We first encourage the use of physical metaphors (e.g., choosing how and where to lock a bicycle) before introducing digital applications to help beginners understand how they may already create …

This module opens with an introduction to the need for location obfuscation techniques, and what a VPN does. Instructors may then talk through basics of IP addresses, Virtual Private Networks, and the Tor network. Students will be asked to install Tor and navigate to the New York Times SecureDrop .onion …

This short module opens with a short introduction to malware with a video, followed by slides with a few examples of malware targeting journalists, and finally, opening up to a discussion of how students understand the likelihood of this happening in their work, and what they should do in response. …

This module opens by walking through examples of targeted harassment, followed by a self-doxxing activity, an activity to opt-out of a data broker service, and discussion time. Because some students may have personal experience with harassment and doxxing on the web, if this class environment feels safe enough to do …

This module should be short, introducing the problem with a video, and open a discussion with students about full disk encryption and strong password protection.PrerequisitesThreat modelingEstimated time20 minutesObjectivesUpon successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to analyze the risks associated with device …

This section is intended to be presentation-heavy. It opens with a short video explaining the foreign intelligence surveillance court, followed by another introducing NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The legal material can be somewhat dry, so it's especially important to focus on the surveillance capabilities outlined, followed secondarily by the authorities …

This module opens with an introduction to common attacks on online accounts, and the need for two-factor authentication. It then moves on to a few activities having students investigate the security of their own passwords, and where they might set up two-factor authentication for their primary email provider. It closes …