Digital security

© Marc Lewis Ramage

The list includes a helpline to turn to if there is an urgent digital security concern as well as tools and trainings that provide knowledge and concrete steps to improve the digital security of hardware and online activities.

Access Now: Digital Security Helpline

Organization: Access Now
Special Focus: None

Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline works with individuals and organizations around the world to keep them safe online. If at risk, Access Now can help to improve the digital security practices to keep out of harm’s way. If the activist/human rights defender is already under attack, the helpline provides rapid-response emergency assistance. The emergency assistance is supposed to respond within two hours of the email request, the conversation is secured and Access Now verifies the identity and information of the client. The client may receive direct assistance or would be referred to another partner of Access Now for further help. The helpline also offers services in Tagalog.

Contact: help@accessnow.org

For more information, please visit:

How to contact us?

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Surveillance Self-Defense

Organization:Electronic Frontier Foundation
Focus: None

Surveillance Self-Defense (SSD) is a guide to protecting yourself from electronic surveillance for people all over the world. Some aspects of this guide will be useful to people with very little technical knowledge, while others are aimed at an audience with considerable technical expertise and privacy/security trainers.

To access the guide, please visit:

How to: Avoid Pishing Attacks

Hasso-Plattner-Institut: HPI Identity Leak Checker

Organization: Hasso-Plattner-Institut
Special Focus: None

Everyday personal data is stolen in criminal cyber attacks. A large part of the stolen information is subsequently made public on Internet databases, where it serves as the starting point for other illegal activities.

With the HPI Identity Leak Checker, it is possible to check whether your email address, along with other personal data (e.g. telephone number, date of birth or address), has been made public on the Internet where it can be misused for malicious purposes.

To check your email address, please visit:

HPI Identity Leak Checker

KeePassXC: KeePassXC Cross-Platform Password Manager

Organization: KeePassXC 
Special Focus: None

KeePassXC is a modern, secure, and open-source password manager that stores and manages your most sensitive information.

KeePassXC can run on Windows, macOS, and Linux systems. KeePassXC is for people with extremely high demands of secure personal data management. It saves many different types of information, such as usernames, passwords, URLs, attachments, and notes in an offline, encrypted file that can be stored in any location, including private and public cloud solutions.

For more information, please visit:

KeePassXC Cross-Platform Password Manager

Not sure whether a password manager is needed? Here are some reasons why it can help to stay safe:

5 myths about password manager

Overview of Messenger Apps

Organization: None, Individual cyber security architect recommended by experts
Special Focus: None

The website provides a security comparison of the following Messenger Apps: Google Messages, Apple iMessage, Facebook Messenger, Element/ Riot, Signal, Microsoft Skype, Telegram, Threema, Viber, Facebook Whatsapp, Amazon Wickr Me, Wire, Session.

To access the comparison, please visit:

Secure Messaging Apps Comparison

Totem: Digital Security Trainings

Organization: Totem
Special Focus: Activists and journalists

Totem helps security trainers extend the learning experience from a few days of face-to-face, offline training into a continuous and on-going, interactive learning experience. Totem offers courses on Secure Messaging Apps, Social Media Research, Desk Research, Keep it Private, Secure your Devices, How to Protect your Identity Online and others. These courses can be accessed online and guide you through your self-study.

For more information, please visit:

Digital security trainings for activists and journalists