To protect your sources, protect your address book
Photo by vince42. CC BY-ND 2.0Source 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...
View ArticleTaking care with source security when reporting on abortion
Credit: Sabrina Gröschke (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)Journalists covering reproductive rights are tackling a challenging — but critical — beat with fast-evolving digital security risks. No matter from which...
View ArticleHow technology is changing the harassment of journalists — and what newsrooms...
Online attacks of reporters and newsrooms are a serious and growing threat to the sustainability of journalism, with a growing recognition that management and leadership need to be doing more to...
View ArticleHow journalists can work from home securely
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...
View ArticleLessons from a newsroom raid: How to encrypt your devices to protect yourself
Image: Marion County Record Based on the reporting we’ve seen so far, the Marion, Kansas Police Department raid on the Marion County Record appears to violate federal law— and the First Amendment....
View ArticleOvercoming challenges when setting up newsroom Signal tiplines
In recent years, Signal has become one of the most popular ways for newsrooms to accept story tips. While it’s not designed to fully protect anonymity, Signal’s track record on security, approach to...
View ArticleWant improved adoption of digital security practices? Tell a good story.
Source: Katy Levinson (CC BY 2.0)Password breached! Email hacked! With many organizations mandating cybersecurity training, why do these incidents still happen? In part because our adversaries are...
View ArticleWhy journalists should enable Signal usernames
Credit: Freedom of the Press Foundation (CC BY 4.0) The team behind Signal, the encrypted messaging app, have been working to address a common concern: Why do I have to give someone my phone number to...
View ArticleMetadata 101: Understanding the basics of media metadata
Image credit: Anastasia Kolobrodova (CC BY 4.0) I have a Polaroid photo on my bookshelf. In it, a friend and I are standing in the sun in a slightly blurry courtyard. There’s no way for anyone but the...
View ArticleReporting on the 2024 elections? We're here to help
Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) trackeda record number of press freedom violations during 2020, which included the U.S. presidential election season. This year’s elections, with a rematch in the...
View ArticleEvaluating video conferencing tools
Photo by August de Richelieu. CC-BY 2.0Choosing the right tool can be difficult, especially if you’re planning to use it for sensitive work tasks. Here are some questions to help you evaluate and...
View ArticleWhat we know about video conferencing with Google Meet
If you work remotely on the web, you’re probably getting comfortable with multiple video chat tools. At Freedom of the Press Foundation, we’ve published a high-level comparison of some common video...
View ArticleThat USB drive might not be safe. What now?
Credit: David Huerta (CC BY 4.0) You may have heard the advice that unfamiliar USB drives should be avoided at all costs. For many, the salient advice under these circumstances is to simply avoid...
View ArticleMetadata 102 — What is communications metadata and why do we care about it?
When people ask us what messaging app is the best for them, we usually like to have a conversation about their specific privacy and security needs. However, when put on the spot to give one answer, in...
View ArticleWhat the AT&T breach means for source protection
If you're a journalist who used AT&T between May 1 and Oct. 31, 2022, you're going to want to revisit your call and text history from that time and see which of your sources you were communicating...
View ArticleBeyond pen and paper: Secure note-taking apps for journalists
Credit: Unsplashed (CC0)Most major note-taking apps (e.g., Notion,Evernote) make your notes readable to the service provider. This makes them more vulnerable to hacking and legal requests that could...
View ArticleOne nation under RISAA: What the US election could mean for surveillance of...
In April, the U.S. Congress officiallyreauthorized and expanded Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the controversial law that allows intelligence agencies tospy on Americans’...
View ArticleAdvice column: Top three security tips
Welcome to “Ask a security trainer,” the column where the digital security training team at Freedom of the Press Foundation answers your burning questions at the intersection of journalism and...
View ArticleAnnouncing our advice column, “Ask a security trainer”
In our digital security trainings with media organizations, we receive a lot of great security questions. We wanted to capture questions and responses that could also apply to other...
View ArticleHow plausible is iCloud security on Apple devices?
Credit: Freedom of the Press Foundation (CC BY 4.0) You might have heard of extreme measures to protect your data in this age of surveillance, from installing privacy-oriented operating systems to...
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