The stakes have never been higher: Security breaches routinely make front-page news, and digital security has become a formidable challenge for companies, consumers, politicians, and everyone in between. So far, journalists don’t seem to have been publicly compromised too often. But in 2018, that may change. Stories and confidential sources may be leaked after journalistic institutions are breached. Journalists would be embarrassed, sources would be more cautious, and doing good work would get harder.
All this will become a significant digital security challenge for journalists. To tell stories, they will need to understand the digital security dynamics of the subjects they write about. To preserve their own security, they will need to implement hardened digital security tools and practices in their own work. Digital security will become a core part of the job.
The good news is that digital security has never been easier. For example, hardware security keys provide excellent protection for many common accounts including Google, Facebook, Dropbox, and GitHub. A number of different vendors sell security keys; most cost a few dollars and can be set up in a matter of minutes. Server security has also improved, with a number of cloud providers offering hardened security services.
In 2018, journalists will also think more deeply about the nature of digital security and how digital attackers view the world. Some journalists will emerge as unexpected global experts on practical digital security, rivaling the gurus of the software development community.
By building expertise on digital security, journalists will begin to inform the understanding and decision-making of universities, enterprises, nonprofits, governments, and beyond. Journalists have a unique ability to share their knowledge with the world. When it comes to digital security, that new reservoir of knowledge will change everything.
Justin Kosslyn is the lead product manager of Jigsaw at Google.
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Tim Carmody Watch out for Spotify
Molly de Aguiar Good journalism won’t be enough
Rachel Schallom Better design helps differentiate opinion and news
Cory Haik Suffering from realness, pivoting to impact
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Manoush Zomorodi Self-help as a publishing strategy
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Sam Sanders Shine the light on ourselves
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Felix Salmon Covering bitcoin while owning bitcoin
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Monika Bauerlein The firehose of falsehood
Raju Narisetti Mirror, mirror on the wall
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Eric Nuzum Beyond the narrative arc
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Charo Henríquez Training is an investment, not an expense
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Aron Pilhofer We can’t leave the business to the business side any more
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Taylor Lorenz Social and media will split
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Tracie Powell The muting of underserved voices
Julia B. Chan Looking for loyalty in all the right places
Jennifer Brandel and Mónica Guzmán The editorial meeting of the future
Sydette Harry Listen to your corner and watch for the hook
Rachel Davis Mersey AI, with real smarts
Dheerja Kaur Fun with subscription products
Gordon Crovitz Serving readers over advertisers
Valérie Bélair-Gagnon Seeking trust in fragmented spaces
Bill Keller A growing turn to philanthropy
Pablo Boczkowski The rise of skeptical reading
Alfred Hermida Going beyond mobile-first
Emily Goligoski Looking beyond news for inspiration
P. Kim Bui The reckoning is only beginning
Vivian Schiller Pivot to tomorrow
S. Mitra Kalita The arc of news and audience
Mariana Moura Santos Think local, act global
Nicholas Quah Stop talking trash about young people
Corey Johnson The pro-fact resistance
C.W. Anderson The social media apocalypse
Joanne Lipman Journalists inventing revenue streams
Mario García Storytelling finally adapts to mobile
Amy Webb Listen to weak signals
Damon Krukowski Reviving the alt-weekly soul
Amy King Let’s amplify visual voice
AX Mina Memes and visuals come to the fore
Susie Banikarim R.I.P. Pivot to Video (2017–2017)
Jarrod Dicker Honesty in advertising
Lanre Akinola Making noise is not a strategy
Alan Soon The rise of start of psychographic, micro-targeted media
Tamar Charney We get serious about algorithms
Jared Newman Venture funding and digital news don’t mix
Elizabeth Jensen Show your work
Niketa Patel Live journalism comes of age
José Zamora Revenue-first journalism
Ståle Grut Reclaiming audience interaction from social networks
Caitlin Thompson Podcasting models mature and diversify
Sarah Marshall Loyalty as the key performance indicator
Michelle Garcia Navigating journalistic transparency
Sam Ford The year of investing in processes
Ray Soto VR reaches the next level
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Andrew Ramsammy The year ownership mattered
Hannah Cassius The year of the echo-chamber escapists
Doris Truong Computer vision vs. the Internet vigilantes
Alice Antheaume Are you fluent in AI?
Carlos Martínez de la Serna The new journalism commons
Carrie Brown-Smith Transparency finally takes off
Luke O'Neil The end is already here
Amie Ferris-Rotman More female reporters abroad (please)
Sally Lehrman Trust comes first
Mary Meehan Real lives are at stake in rural areas
Eric Ulken The year local publishers get smart(er) about change
Michael Kuntz The only pivot that might work
Matt Carlson Attacks on the press will get worse
Laura E. Davis Writing answers before you know the question
Rodney Benson Better, less read, and less trusted
Mandy Velez texting is lit rn, fam
Miguel Castro The arrival of the impact producer
Tanya Cordrey Finally, the seeds of radical reinvention
Heather Bryant Building the ecosystems for collaboration
Evie Nagy Pivot to mobile video frustration
Dannagal G. Young Stop covering politics as a game
Steve Grove The midterms are an opportunity
Joyce Barnathan It will be harder to bury the news
Trushar Barot The Jio-fication of India
Frédéric Filloux External forces
Matt Boggie The intellectual equivalent of the Dead Sea
Julia Beizer A longer view on the pivot
Millie Tran and Stine Bauer Dahlberg (Hint: It’s about your brand)
Jennifer Choi Standing up for us and for each other
Mira Lowe The year of the local watchdog
Kristen Muller The year of the voter
Joanne McNeil Gatekeeping the gatekeepers
Kinsey Wilson Facebook and Google: Help out or pay up
Richard Tofel The platforms’ power demands more reporters’ attention
Daniel Trielli The rich get richer, the poor scramble
Kathleen McElroy Building a news video experience native to mobile
Justin Kosslyn The year journalists become digital security experts
Tanzina Vega It’s time for media companies to #PassTheMic
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Ruth Palmer Risks will grow for news subjects — especially minorities
Emma Carew Grovum Newsroom culture becomes a priority
Cindy Royal Your journalism curriculum is obsolete
Cristina Wilson The year of the Instagram Story
Kyle Ellis Let’s build our way out of this
Jennifer Coogan The future is female
David Skok Finding an information-life balance
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Jesse Holcomb Information disorder, coming to a congressional district near you
Jassim Ahmad Thriving on change
Craig Newmark Working together toward sustainable solutions
Mary Walter-Brown Show a little vulnerability
Vanessa K. DeLuca Women’s voices take center stage
Matt DeRienzo A recession, then a collapse
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Juliette De Maeyer A responsible press criticism
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Pete Brown Push alerts, personalized
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