Easy steps for big improvements in digital security

Managing your multiple identities across devices and services

In certain areas and contexts, the very act of connecting to the internet – as an embassy staff member working on human rights, or as a human rights defender – can be a threat to your information security:

Communication with chat and messaging app and services

Social media can be a useful tool in supporting and giving visibility to the work of civil society organisations. As contexts vary widely, it is important to use it carefully and strategically.

Although you may have a user password, data on devices may be accessible to third parties who obtain physical access to the device.

Transferring files over the internet is another form of online communication, and most of the same vulnerabilities and protection tactics apply.

Giving funds or other kinds of formal support to civil society and HRDs can involve risks for the civil society groups, embassy staff and others who are tangentially involved or involved by association.

Malicious software, or ‘malware’, is any software that can cause damage to your digitally stored data, or give third parties access to it.

Mobile phones are invaluable resources for work and can also be of great use for security: in an emergency situation, they are the first tools that many will reach for. However, they do have vulnerabilities.

n-person meetings with civil society may have a number of security implications, particularly in an environment where authorities are hostile to such contact.