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
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.
Tackling the “black snakes” undermining digital rights worldwide
As 2025 gets underway, Access Now’s new Executive Director, Alejandro Mayoral Baños, PhD, shares his reflections on the “black snakes” threatening the digital rights movement.
How to keep your data safe when protesting
Rainbow-burning: how social media companies increase risks for LGBTQ+ people in Africa
Colonial-era laws and a global anti-rights movement are fueling LGBTQ+ repression across Africa. Access Now documented 214 threats on platforms like TikTok, X, Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp, underscoring widespread risks.
Why we won’t stop defending LGBTQ+ digital rights
When “cybercrime” laws infringe human rights: lessons from the Arab region
Governments across the Arab region already use cybercrime laws to violate human rights, and the UN cybercrime convention risks making this even easier.
A human rights-centered approach to digital public infrastructure
Read Access Now’s recommendations for lawmakers to ensure digital public infrastructure protects human rights.
DOJ, Microsoft seize more than 100 domains used by the FSB