#CatoSpyCon (Twitter)

It’s always fascinating to learn about the challenges journalists face on a regular basis in this surveillance era. And of course a joy to see how impactful the good people of @FreedomofPress have been in improving the security of newsrooms everywhere. #CatoSpyCon

Tips from the #CatoSpyCon panel on journalism & surveillance: Keep an airgapped computer & docs offline Awareness training. Adopt MFA, password manager Big Brother really is watching. Be smart The Internet is forever. Sensitive info on slack or Gchat. Go talk in person.

The weakest point in any security regime is almost always the humans. Journalists (& their editors!) should build threat models that assess risk based on their roles, beats, sources, & assignments, & minimize their data exhaust: https://source.opennews.org/articles/security-journalists-part-two-threat-modeling/ #CatoSpyCon

"Metadata is like Pigpen from Peanuts," says Pro Publica's @jackgillum after discussing how much can get left when a reporter and a source meet for lunch in D.C. "It's this cloud of dust that follows you everywhere." #CatoSpyCon

Saying that "most tips that you get are from crazy people," @attackerman calls it almost "healthy for democracy" that the Daily Beast is now seeing that the crazies also submit tips via SecureDrop. #CatoSpyCon

Ignorance of source protection is no longer an excuse on the part of the reporter, says @RobertMMahoney, who notes that while autocracies go after journalists, Western democracies go after sources. Cf. misuse of Espionage Act: http://gov20.govfresh.com/prosecuting-whistleblowers-is-antithetical-to-open-government/ #CatoSpyCon

Helpful live-tweeting of #CatoSpyCon

"Journalists are overworked, they are tired, they don't necessarily have the time to learn a whole new skill set," says @_olivemartini_ of the difficulties in teaching opsec to journalists. But who doesn't match that description these days? #CatoSpyCon

At #CatoSpyCon, @JFranzblau of @OpenTheGov shares best practices for combating government secrecy through the Freedom of Information Act (#FOIA): https://www.openthegovernment.org/foiaguide #opengov #foiafriday

Google's David Lieber reminds the audience that when he spoke at #CatoSpyCon in 2013, Google couldn't disclose Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act data requests at all; thanks to 2015's USA Freedom Act, it can. "We are in a different place now,"