Digital Threat Landscape: Civil Society and Media Reports

"Mexican civil society and media organizations currently face some of the most significant cybersecurity threats in the world."



This series of reports provides an overview of the digital threats faced by civil society and media organisations in five countries and offers guidance for digital safety experts supporting this community. Each report outlines the political context for the cybersecurity industry, which may need to analyse security incidents affecting civil society and journalists in a country, and describes mitigation measures that can be proposed by digital security experts to the people and organisations with whom they work, as well as for civil society and media organisations to implement themselves.



The reports were prepared by Internews' Internet Freedom & Resilience team under a stream of work that seeks to strengthen the ability of civil society organisations, journalists, and other human rights defenders to detect, analyse, and build resilience to digital attacks through localised expertise in threat analysis and incident response.  



The reports were written in close collaboration with local partners who specialise in dealing with digital security issues affecting non-governmental organisations (NGOs), human rights defenders, activists, journalists, and independent media in each country. These organisations continue to serve as a contact point and helpdesk for the above-mentioned groups in each country and to collect, analyse, and anonymously and responsibly share incident data and indicators with the global threat intelligence community, where appropriate.



Each country report contains the following sections:

• Digital Threat Landscape
  • Political Context, Civil Society, and the Media - an outline of the political situation in each country and the roles played by civil society and the media.
  • Cybersecurity - a general view of the state of cybercrime and security measures that are in place.
  • The State of Cybersecurity of Civil Society and Media - a description of examples of cybercrime as it affects civil society and media and how they have been addressed.
  • Mitigation Measures - some recommendations on what the media and civil society organisations can do to protect themselves from cybercrime.
• Case Studies - real-life incidents of digital threats against civil society and the media and how they were addressed.
• Further Reading - resources to improve understanding of the threats facing civil society and media.
• History of the Country - a general history of the country, often going back to ancient times.
• Acknowledgements

The threats, trends and case studies highlighted in each report were identified through direct digital safety support for at-risk communities (provided by Internews and country partners), desk research, and conversations with trusted members of the Internet Freedom community.



The following reports are available to download in PDF format:

1. Armenia Digital Threat Landscape: Civil Society & Media [PDF]
2. Brazil Digital Threat Landscape: Civil Society & Media [PDF]
3. Mexico Digital Threat Landscape: Civil Society & Media [PDF]
4. Serbia Digital Threat Landscape: Civil Society & Media [PDF]
5. Ukraine Digital Threat Landscape: Civil Society & Media [PDF]