25 selected professional journalists had the opportunity to interact with 4 renowned instructors in a series of hands-on workshops on Anti-surveillance and digital security.
Participants had the opportunity to meet and chat with Harlo Holmes (Chief Information Security Officer and Director of Digital Security at Freedom of the Press Foundation) about threat models, end-to-end encryption, source collection and legal resources, thus taking an important step towards better information on effective protection of personal data and communications.
Harlo Holmes (Chief Information Security Officer and Director of Digital Security at Freedom of the Press Foundation)
Through a multi-step, interactive discussion with Viktorya Vilk (Director for Digital Safety and Free Expression at PEN America), journalists became more familiar with online abuse tactics, doxxing, privacy settings on social media and received personalized advice.
Viktorya Vilk (Director for Digital Safety and Free Expression at PEN America)
Together with Frank Smyth (Founder and CEO of Global Journalist Security), participants explored the various forms of physical surveillance in the field. Through outdoor exercises, they were trained to identify potential eavesdroppers.
Frank Smyth (Founder and CEO of Global Journalist Security)
During the workshop, participants also exchanged best practices and effective methods of preventing espionage with Bill Marczak (Senior Research Fellow at Citizen Lab). Finally, with the assistance and special tools of the instructor, they checked their phones for signs of hacking.
Bill Marczak (Senior Research Fellow at Citizen Lab)
Thanks to all instructors and participants for their commitment!
More workshops will be announced soon.
The workshops took place between February 9-24, 2023, at the iMEdD premises.
