Class to offer counter-surveillance for reporters Saturday, June 27

Journalists will have a rare opportunity to learn counter-surveillance techniques that they can use to protect their sensitive reporting at a National Press Club class on Saturday, June 27 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

As part of the Journalism Institute and Press Freedom Committee’s cyber security training workshop, a two-hour module will be offered on non-digital skill sets that reporters working domestically and abroad can use to skirt surveillance.

The cost of attending the daylong workshop, which includes the counter-surveillance module, is $30 for club members and $40 for nonmembers. Tickets can be purchased here.

Attendees of the workshop should bring their personal laptop. Lunch will be provided.

The counter-surveillance class will include a focus on:
• developing greater situational awareness of your physical surroundings
• the use of “misdirection” and counter-forensics to throw off potential tails
• differences between mass surveillance versus targeted surveillance
• misleading through outside activities such as hobbies in order to create a cover for a meeting

“Digital tools get you halfway, and we need to think about using them correctly, assuming we are under surveillance by state and private actors,” said Daryl Baginski, who will be co-leading the counter-surveillance tutorial along with Larry Jones. “We’re not just worried about government agencies, but about private intelligence firms with no oversight or constitutional protections.”

Baginski is a managing member of the Clandestine Reporters Working group and a military police veteran who holds a Masters degree in Philosophy and a J.D., both from Syracuse University. His areas of focus include cryptography and steganography.

Jones is a managing member of the Clandestine Reporters Working Group. He is also a military veteran with experience in security and intelligence. He holds a Masters degree from George Mason University in International Commerce and Policy. He is licensed in Virginia as a private investigator. He has expertise in surveillance and counter-surveillance.

The June 27 workshop is the second in a three-part cyber security training class for journalists that begins this Saturday and ends on July 11.