Online security workshop slated for Feb. 26 at the National Press Club

Are you a reporter who knows you need to protect yourself and your sources online but doesn't know where to start?

We've got your answer. The National Press Club's Press Freedom Committee and the National Journalism Institute's Professional Development Committee will host an online security workshop on Feb. 26. at 8:30 a.m.

The workshop will be led by Stephane Koch, Reporters Without Borders' senior online security advisor. It will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in NPC's Bloomberg Room. The cost is $35 for National Press Club members and $75 for non-members.Register here.

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 and how to build passwords; dangers of public wifi networks; preparing your computer to travel in at-risk countries; and encrypting data to protect information and sources.

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

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.

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.