“Why would the government care about me? — do I really have to worry about surveillance? Facebook and Google already know everything about me…. I can’t really do anything, right?” We\’ll answer these questions and more in this course. Students will walk away with some fundamental digital security skills, and the ability to learn new skills and think through security risks. This class is essential knowledge for every student at ITP, since your work inherently requires use of technology, including cutting-edge technology that could present new safety, security, and privacy risks. It\’s especially useful for any student who could be working with or belong to marginalized communities, or who is doing any work that could be deemed political. We\’ll use hypothetical profiles to learn how to conduct a risk assessment. Students will learn the basics of how to assess digital security risks for themselves and for their projects, a process known as threat modeling or risk assessment. They will also learn some digital security basics, such as how to install and use encrypted messaging on their mobile devices, how to avoid phishing/malware attacks, and how to create and store secure passwords. This 1 unit course will take place over three evenings. The first meeting will be an introduction to the concepts of risk assessment and digital harm reduction. The students will be assigned a risk assessment for themselves for the next class. In the second class, we’ll discuss some basic security measures. In the final class meeting, we’ll review the assignments and discuss specific security measures based on how the students assessed their own risks. Prior to the first-class meeting, students should please read: Eva Galperin and Jillian C. York, Yes, Online Privacy Really Is Possible, http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/02/14/threat_modeling_and_finding_the_right_level_of_online_privacy_for_you.html, Slate (Feb. 14, 2014) Dia Kayyali, Getting Started with Digital Security, https://blog.witness.org/2016/11/getting-started-digital-security/, WITNESS (Nov. 2016) Please take a look at the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s “Surveillance Self-defense” site: https://ssd.eff.org/

ITPG-GT.2143.1 (22535) | Instructor: Dia Kayyali | Sun 12:00pm to 3:00pm / Sat 12:00pm to 6:00pm | Meeting Pattern: 2-2 | Start Date