Science Meets Practice Panel, "State of Information Security in Newsrooms"

Digital threats and attacks on journalists and media organizations are constantly growing (e.g., Orgeret et al., 2024). While media organizations try to keep up with the new risks, research is still lacking behind. However, it is important for academia and practice to work hand in hand in light of these new challenges that affect journalists, their sources, and media organizations alike (Frech et al., forthcoming). While awareness of journalists about digital threats is highly ambiguous (Henrichsen, 2020), information security (infosec) skills remain rather limited (Di Salvo, 2024). Only rarely a systematic approach to increasing employees’ infosec skills are employed and freelance journalists often face threats on their own (Crete-Nishihata et al., 2020). Such an individualized infosec culture, as opposed to a collective one, increases vulnerabilities for all (Henrichsen, 2022). This raises the question: How can infosec practices be improved in newsrooms? In our workshop we talk about threats, mitigation strategies, and good practices with journalists, infosec experts, and researchers.