How journalists can work from home securely
Harlo Holmes
June 28, 2023
As a community, as news organizations, and as individual journalists, we are experiencing sweeping changes in how our workplaces are organized, with a mind to public health and shifting economics in newsrooms. Remote work is a necessary part of the strategy. As newsrooms consider how to support remote work, we need to also think through our plan to work securely beyond the corporate firewall.
Most news organizations already have some policies in place for handling sensitive data, or accessing compartmentalized newsroom resources remotely. But often, much shared infrastructure is lacking. It’s time to make some changes.
At Freedom of the Press Foundation we have some thoughts about practical ways to work together securely as a distributed team, but we also want to learn from, and call attention to the community’s wisdom. Send us a message on Twitter at @FreedomofPress or contact us here to let us know what practices your newsroom has adopted to enable remote work securely. We may ask if we can expand this article with your tips.
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In our ideal world this would include some shared infrastructure, and some basic training for all newsroom employees to use the following…
Work at home means you can’t assume the same security benefits of sitting at the office. Your newsroom may have stronger digital and physical security practices in place than your home office, so it might be time for some adjustments.
And as always, please reach out to our digital security training team if you need any help.
We’d love to help others learn from your experience by adding your tips above! What are some long-standing practices your organization has employed to protect journalists working remotely? How about new practices you’ve never had to consider until now? Contact us privately here or reach out at @freedomofpress (DMs open). We look forward to learning from, and working with you.
- Freedom of the Press Digital Security Training Team