WASHINGTON – Journalists cannot ensure total security for their data online or on mobile, but there are ways to make it much harder for cyberhackers to steal their information or track their movements, a cybersecurity expert told reporters at a Medill National Security Journalism Initiative workshop on Monday.
Stephan Koch of Reporters Without Borders, which co-sponsored the event with Medill, warned the reporters that “you cannot trust in any security tool … in any security program.”
“Most of us do not have the technical knowledge to identify or defeat a high-skilled computer attack but we can make things harder for the attackers and improve our behavior, he said at the workshop, held at the National Press Club.
A good resource for helping journalists to improve their data security chances is “The Online Survival Kit” from Reporters Without Borders.
To ensure online security, journalists need a multi-layered approach involving:
- the user knowing the risk spectrum;
- applications: understanding the typology of the application;
- the operating system, to ensure firewall are enabled and shares and wireless are disabled;
- hardware, understanding the risk of infected firmware and removing physical components if needed.
A few questions you should ask about your computer:
- What types of data do I work with; what are the kinds of logs or traces someone can find if a forensic analysis is made;
- What types of data area stored on my computer and what would they tell someone about my work and me;
- Is my computer protected by a security program, not just an anti-virus program.
And, if you’re traveling to a risky country, it is highly recommended that you use a separate computer that holds only the information you need to accomplish your job. Create a virgin image of the computer and reinstall it after each trip.
