STAYING SAFE AND SECURE ONLINE
We work to ensure human right defenders and other members of civil society facing digital security threats have the resources they need to protect themselves and their communities.
Digital Security Helpline
Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline offers free technical advice and rapid-response emergency assistance to various at-risk groups, including individual activists, researchers, media organizations, journalists, bloggers, and human rights defenders, as well as civil society collectives or organizations.
Resources
Digital Security
Visualizing the Digital Security Helpline’s recent impact
Here’s how Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline helped more than 3,000 members of civil society stay safe online in 2023.
Content Governance
What is doxxing, and how does it endanger women?
This International Women’s Day, we’re telling platforms like Telegram, Twitch, and Meta to take women’s safety seriously.
Cybersecurity
Digital safety guide for LGBTQ+ activists in Africa
Rising LGBTQ+ intolerance in many African countries drives digital repression of activists. This guide provides safety tips and resources for protecting against these threats.
Cybersecurity
دليل الأمن الرقمي للنشطاء في الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا
قامت أكساس ناو بإعداد هذا الدليل للأمن الرقمي بهدف تقديم الدعم للأشخاص في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا الذين يسعون لحماية أنفسهم من التهديدات الرقمية والبقاء آمنين على الإنترنت.
Protest and Online Organizing
Georgia protests: digital safety tips for peaceful gatherings
Amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent and peaceful protests in many EECA countries, most recently Georgia, CyberHUB-AM and Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline have prepared a guide to support protestors to stay safer online.
Digital Security
Don’t panic! Download “A First Look at Digital Security”
It’s a time of transition. Our user-friendly booklet can help you stay calm and focused.
Latest Updates
التجسس لقمع المعارضة: هجمة تصيّد إلكتروني مأجورة تستهدف المجتمع المدني في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا
كشف تحقيق جديد أجراه فريق خط المساعدة للأمن الرقمي التابع لمنظمة أكسس ناو عن هجمة تصيّد إلكتروني مأجورة، استهدفت اثنين من الصحفيين المصريين البارزين والمعارضين .للحكومة
Espionage for repression: hack-for-hire phishing campaign targets civil society in MENA
A new investigation by Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline has exposed a hack-for-hire campaign targeting two prominent Egyptian journalists and government critics, Mostafa Al-A’sar and Ahmed Eltantawy, through a series of spear-phishing attacks.
Espionage for repression: hack-for-hire phishing campaign targets civil society in MENA
A new investigation by Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline has exposed a hack-for-hire campaign targeting two prominent Egyptian journalists and government critics.
Artificial Insecurity: access and availability in the age of AI
In the third part of our blog series on the dodgy digital security practices underlying advanced AI tools, we look at how the availability of systems is impacted by the proliferation of large language models.
Artificial Insecurity: threats to information integrity
In the second part of our series on the dodgy digital security practices underlying advanced AI tools, we examine how LLMs threaten information integrity.
Artificial Insecurity: how AI tools compromise confidentiality
In the first part of our blog series on the dodgy digital security practices underlying advanced AI tools, we unpack how LLMs can jeopardize the confidentiality of people’s data.
WSIS+20 informal consultation oral statement
Submission to WSIS+20 stakeholder consultations: inputs to the Elements Paper
Why client-side scanning on encrypted platforms is a lose-lose proposition
Regulators worldwide have been pushing client-side scanning (CSS) as a way to examine encrypted communications. But this system still undermines people’s privacy and security by circumventing end-to-end encryption, as we explain.
Access Now: “Current geopolitical trends and untenable budget contractions have exacerbated threats to digital rights.”
How Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws entrap people online
As we mark the IDAHOBIT 2025, we highlight research on Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ+ laws and show how they can lead to digital entrapment and human rights violations.
NSO to pay $168 million in damages to WhatsApp for Pegasus spyware hacking
Combating digital threats to safeguard press freedom
How to protect yourself from phone searches at the U.S. border
How U.S. funding cuts expose civil society to digital attacks
Access Now demands U.S. lift sanctions blocking Syria’s digital recovery
Access Now joins the American Coalition for Syria, and over 160 civil society organizations in urging the U.S. government to expand sanctions relief in Syria.