“Journalists and Activists” is a common line in copy promoting privacy or security-enhancing technology, especially in announcements discussing some novel use of cryptography. The usefulness of any of these tools or services however, don’t always line up perfectly with the real world. In this session we’ll go over a variety of recent real-world cases where journalists have faced some form of cyberattack and construct a more accurate picture of what tools and services would actually provide protection for at-risk journalists (and activists).
David Huerta (@huertanix) is a digital security trainer at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, where he helps journalists and media makers protect their work from anyone opposing a free press. He’s co-organized dozens of digital security and privacy trainings across the US, including one at the Whitney Museum of American Art as part of Laura Poitras’s Astro Noise exhibition in 2016.