The looming threat of newsroom cyberattacks

[Commentary] Recent cyberattacks are the latest evidence of a growing threat to news organizations’ digital security, a threat that many outlets have only recently begun to take seriously.

Cash-strapped newsrooms often lack the resources to implement security measures and conduct employee training programs. Individual journalists, meanwhile, may perceive high barriers to entry when it comes to protecting their digital information. But the conversation surrounding such initiatives has crescendoed in wake of revelations about government surveillance programs in recent years, thanks largely to secure communications between journalists and former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. National and international news organizations have been quicker to employ complex defense systems, as they not only boast more cash, but also are bigger targets. “Some organizations, especially those working with the Snowden documents, put the resources together to keep those documents safe,” said Jenn Henrichsen, a technologist at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. “But in general, news organizations are still waking up to this. And maybe they’re at a loss of where to start."

[David Uberti is a Columbia Journalism Review Delacorte Fellow]