Technology has been very beneficial to journalists and activists around the world: it gives journalists access to a wealth of data and makes it easy for them to communicate with sources without having to meet in person, while it can help activists amplify their message.

But technology is also increasingly used against the same people through government surveillance and mobile spyware. The latter often gives adversaries full access to a targeted device, used by many governments and non-state actors. Recent examples include the targeting of dozens of Indian journalists which is believed to use NSO Group's Pegasus spyware and the discovery of FinSpy implants in Myanmar.

For journalists who are concerned about the possibility of their phone being infected and/or their communications being surveilled, the Civilsphere Project has created a free Emergency VPN service. Once you connect to the Emergency VPN, our team will capture the network traffic generated from your device for a few days. We will thoroughly analyse the data received and based on the network connections determine if your phone is infected, or if there are any threats that you should be aware of.

In the report we send you, we will also warn you about insecure apps you may have installed. While the risk of using insecure apps, which may for instance leak your location, isn't the same for all users, for a journalist or activist at high risk it is recommended to reduce their attack surface as much as possible.

Are you a journalist, a human rights defender or do you work at an NGO? Are you worried that your phone could be infected? Please contact us so that we can help!