#Tip of the day for journalists: Read this advice on internet security
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Lyra McKee, who founded The Muckraker, a blog about investigative journalism, has written a post published on the Online Journalism Blog all about online security.
In it she tells journalists to never assume a computer is secure.
McKee, who is based in Northern Ireland, uses the example of an investigative journalist, “a confidente of IRA terrorists”, who found his phone had been hacked by people who said they could also break in to his computer.
Following the hacking attacks suffered by the Washington Post and New York Times, she goes on to look at how Hushmail, said to be a more secure version of Gmail, and also Google have reportedly complied with government requests for information.
The biggest issue for a journalist’s digital security is not a hacker’s ability to guess their password but the government’s ability to obtain their data through legal wrangling.
McKee then looks at different security solutions – including TrueCrypt, Retroshare and Tor – and gives four tips for journalists, including to use “burner emails”.
Read her excellent post to find out more.
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