Improving Computer Security Technologies for
Journalist-Source and Other Sensitive Communications
Security & Privacy Research Lab
Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington
Overview
Advances in digital communication technologies, and their proliferation in recent decades, have
removed many barriers to journalism and other professions. At the same time, however, security
weaknesses in these technologies have put journalists and other users of technology increasingly
at risk from powerful organizations -- reducing individual and organizational
security and privacy, and curtailing freedoms of speech and of the press
both nationally and internationally.
This project aims to (1) study the computer security needs, mental
models, concerns, and use cases of user groups for whom sensitive communications are critical,
such as journalists and lawyers, informing (2) the development of more effective, more usable secure communication
technologies for these and other user groups.
People
Faculty
Franziska Roesner
Students
Ada Lerner, PhD Alumna
Mitali Palekar, Undergraduate Student
Eric Zeng, PhD Student
Collaborators
Kelly Caine, Clemson University
Susan McGregor, Columbia Journalism School
Software
Confidante: Usable Encrypted Email
[ Website ] [ Source Code ]
Ada (Adam) Lerner, Eric Zeng, Mitali Palekar, and Franziska Roesner
Initial public release: April 28, 2017
Publications / Talks
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When the Weakest Link is Strong: Secure Collaboration in the Case of the Panama Papers
Susan E. McGregor, Elizabeth Watkins, Mahdi Nasrullah Al-Ameen, Kelly Caine, and Franziska Roesner
26th USENIX Security Symposium, August 2017
[ Talk Video ]
-
Confidante: Usable Encrypted Email - A Case Study With Lawyers and Journalists
Ada (Adam) Lerner, Eric Zeng, and Franziska Roesner
2nd IEEE European Symposium on Security and Privacy (EuroS&P), April 2017
-
Understanding and Designing for End Users' Security Expectations
Franziska Roesner
Invited Talk, USENIX Enigma, February 2017
-
Individual versus Organizational Computer Security and Privacy Concerns in Journalism
Susan E. McGregor, Franziska Roesner, and Kelly Caine
16th Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium (PETS), July 2016
-
Investigating the Computer Security Practices and Needs of Journalists
Susan E. McGregor, Polina Charters, Tobin Holliday, and Franziska Roesner
24th USENIX Security Symposium, August 2015
[ Talk Video ]
Press
- Panama Papers a ‘notable security success’, ICIJ Blog, August 2017
- The secret to strengthening online security tools, Columbia Journalism Review, August 2015
- Journalisten zijn technisch niet in staat hun bronnen te beschermen, BNR Newsradio, July 2015
- Journalists don't have the right tools to keep sources anonymous in this post-Snowden age, BigThink, July 2015
- Computer security tools for journalists lacking in a post-Snowden world, UW Today, July 2015
Funding
This work is funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Awards CNS-1463968 and CNS-1513575.