The Digital Security Training track currently offers a variety of courses covering the most salient and pressing issues facing journalists and technology in the current day. FPF offers courses in 90-minute, 3-hour, and full-day formats; in order to accommodate organizations requiring for more flexibility in scheduling. Some courses include hands-on activity; which include setting up new software, brainstorming exercises, or simulated interactions within our custom training environment.

FPF can also assist your organization by building custom training modules to address a particular set of tools, workflows, or sensitive topics. We try to stick to the allotted time for each module, but are flexible enough to handle troubleshooting, deeper learning through Q&A, or even intense discussion; depending on group dynamics.

Our offerings

Digital Security 101 — 90 minutes

Topics include:

  • Threat modeling
  • Account security
  • How the internet works for and against us
  • Why encryption matters
  • Hardening Chrome and Firefox

This course is also available as a webinar.

Advanced Topics in Digital Security — 3 hours

Topics include:

  • All topics covered in Digital Security 101, with increased focus on operational uses for tools introduced
  • Introduction to file-based encryption
  • End-to-end encryption and chat mastery
  • Travel preparation

Risky Research — 3 hours

Topics include:

  • Hardening Chrome and Firefox
  • Browsing securely on desktop devices
  • Browsing securely on mobile
  • Using Tor
  • Open source tools for “open source intelligence”
  • Air gapping and sandboxing protocols

Tails for Beginners — 3 hours

Topics include:

  • Intro to Tails
  • Sandboxing research with Tails
  • Amnesiac mode vs. Persistent mode
  • Software additions for investigations

Qubes for Beginners — 3 hours

Topics include:

  • Leveraging vaults, work, and personal domains
  • Customizing the network stack
  • Working with peripherals
  • Software additions for investigations

Travel Ready — 90 minutes

Topics include:

  • Threat assessments per region
  • Internal and external communication strategies
  • Thwarting the "Evil Maid"
  • Data compartmentalization
  • “Burner” devices
  • Region-specific connectivity challenges

This course is also available as a webinar.

Travel Ready — 3 hours

Topics include:

  • All topics from the 90-minute course, with hands-on assistance in setting up devices.

Doxxing Prevention and Response — 3 hours

Topics include:

  • Locking down social media
  • Protecting your phone
  • OSINT and how doxxing actually works
  • Fighting data brokers
  • Protecting your personal life on the web

This course is also available as a webinar.

Source Communication and Protection — 3 hours

Topics include:

  • Tackling the first-contact conundrum
  • End-to-end encryption in communication
  • Understanding communication metadata
  • Understanding document metadata
  • Lawsuits, indictments, and learning from contemporary history
  • Recording media safely

Working with Metadata — 90 minutes

Topics include:

  • Metadata in images
  • Metadata in office documents and PDFs
  • Metadata Analysis tools
  • Being realistic about redactions, and best practices

Working with Metadata — 4 hours

Topics include:

  • All topics from the 90-minute course, with hands-on assistance in setting up devices.
  • Participatory exercises in metadata redaction and analysis
  • Building a metadata toolkit

Encrypt all the Things — 90 minutes

Topics include:

  • Full disk encryption on desktop
  • Full disk encryption on mobile
  • Encrypting peripherals
  • Encrypting file-based partitions
  • Strategies for sharing encrypted media

Encrypt all the Things —3 hours

Topics include:

  • All topics from the 90-minute course, with hands-on assistance in setting up devices.

Extreme Connectivity — 3 hours

Topics include:

  • How mobile carriers operate
  • Why VPNs are important, and how to choose one
  • What happens when the internet is censored, throttled, or unavailable
  • Mesh networking
  • Using satellite phones as securely as possible

SecureDrop for Journalists — 3 hours

Topics include:

  • Tails crash course
  • Successful air gapping protocols
  • Handling document metadata


Interested in scheduling a training with our staff? Let us know via our contact form.