NPC Offers Course in Online Security for Journalists

The National Press Club's Press Freedom Committee and the National Press Club Journalism Institute's Professional Development Committee are happy to announce an online security workshop on Feb. 26.

The workshop will be led by Mr. Stephane Koch, Reporters Without Borders' senior online security advisor. It will run from 8.30am to 12.30pm at the NPC's Bloomberg conference room. The cost is $75--or $35 for National Press Club members.

No previous experience with online security issues is required to attend the workshop. All that's needed is a laptop.

The workshop's lessons include:
- awareness of mobile phone traceability and communications interception possibilities
- ways to erase traces and logs on your computer
- how to be aware of security certificates, avoid phishing and learn about meta data
- how to erase deleted data
- awareness of password breakers
- building passwords
- dangers of public wifi networks
- preparing your computer to travel in at-risk countries
- encrypting data to protect information and sources

After the workshop, attendees will leave with an array of resources and software.

The National Press Club, founded in 1908, is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. Comprising more than 3,000 members, it is an outspoken advocate of press freedom and open government.

Reporters Without Borders is an international organization defending press freedom and Internet freedom.The group has been organizing online security workshops for reporters and citizen-journalists in Southeast Asia and the Middle East for many years.

Raising awareness of online security issues is a priority for the National Press Club, Reporters Without Borders and others concerned with press freedom. In order to preserve access to sensitive information and to protect their sources, reporters must be aware of basic online security issues and easy-to-use tools to protect their work. This expertise is not just necessary for reporters' safety, but also for ensuring that sources feel their identities will be protected if necessary--a cornerstone of a robust press.

February 26, 2013 8:30 AM

http://www.press.org/events/online-security-workshop