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Protect your phone by matching safeguards to the people who may target you, the information on your device and accounts, and the consequences if that information is exposed. Before an assignment, secure your accounts, reduce the data you carry, plan for travel and source communications, and arrange specialist help if you face a specific threat or suspect compromise. No single setting or app makes reporting safe.
Start with a threat assessment
Before changing settings, decide what you need to protect and from whom. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recommends assessing risk before an assignment and tailoring precautions to the information involved. Its Digital Safety Kit was first published on July 30, 2019, and updated February 20, 2026.
- Who might target you? Consider the risks associated with the assignment and location, including whether someone could gain access to your devices or accounts.
- What could they find? Inventory sensitive source contacts, conversations, files, account access and copies stored in cloud services.
- Who else could be harmed? Think through what exposure could mean for sources, colleagues and family, not only for you.
- What could happen to the phone? Consider loss, theft, inspection, seizure or access while the device is unlocked.
Use those answers to decide which information needs to travel, which accounts need extra protection, and whether the assignment calls for advice from a digital-safety specialist before you go.
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Accounts can expose information even when the phone itself is not in someone’s hands. Start with the email, messaging, cloud-storage and social accounts that could reveal sources or provide access to other services.
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- Use a distinct, long password for each important account. Reusing passwords means a password exposed in one place may put another account at risk.
- Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) where the service supports it. Choose an available method that fits your threat and recovery needs.
- Save backup codes securely. Keep them somewhere you can reach if you lose access to your phone, rather than relying on the phone as your only recovery route.
- Prepare for phishing. Treat unexpected requests to sign in, share codes or open links with caution, including messages that appear to come from colleagues or sources.
- Consider a FIDO security key if you face targeted account-hacking risk. CPJ recommends that journalists at high risk consider a security key, such as a YubiKey. Check that each account and service you rely on supports the key. A security key helps protect supported account sign-ins; it does not protect a phone from seizure, coercion or spyware.
CPJ’s digital security checklist for journalists in exile and guidance on digital safety for journalists in exile were both updated February 6, 2026. They address account protection and targeted threats; the checklist was first published June 16, 2023.
Reduce what the phone exposes
Before departure, update the phone’s software, set a strong PIN or password, and turn on device encryption if it is available. These measures reduce some risks, but they cannot make a device safe if it is compromised or accessed while unlocked.
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- Review what is stored locally. Check contacts, conversations, photographs, documents and downloads. Remove material whose exposure could endanger someone when it is not needed for the assignment.
- Check cloud copies too. Deleting a local file may not remove copies synced to an account. Review where contacts, messages and files are backed up or synchronized.
- Review app access. Check which apps can access sensitive information, and remove permissions or apps that are not needed for the work.
- Make a backup before travel. Keep needed reporting material recoverable if the phone is lost or damaged. CPJ discusses backing up material, including to external drives, in its U.S. journalist safety kit. Do not assume an external drive encrypts its contents; check the specific drive’s features and protect any backup appropriately.
Choose backups with both recovery and exposure in mind: a copy is useful if a phone is lost, but it can also create another place where sensitive information may be accessed.
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Travel changes the physical-access risk. A phone that leaves your sight may be inspected, copied or tampered with. CPJ’s Digital Safety Kit includes guidance on border crossings; plan what needs to travel rather than assuming encryption will prevent access.
Rank #3
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- Decide what data and accounts are necessary on the trip. Reduce the information carried when it is not needed for reporting, taking source and colleague safety into account.
- Consider a separate travel device when the risk warrants it. A device with less sensitive information may reduce exposure, but it still needs appropriate security and can still be inspected or compromised.
- Check local legal conditions around encryption. Requirements and constraints can differ by jurisdiction. Get reliable, location-specific advice if you are unsure what applies to your route.
- Plan for loss of access. Know how you would recover essential accounts and work if a device were taken, lost or unavailable, without depending solely on information stored on that device.
Do not treat a PIN, encryption or a second device as a guarantee against compelled access, physical seizure or tampering.
Protect source communications at both ends
End-to-end encryption can protect message content in transit, but it does not make a compromised or unlocked phone safe. It also does not necessarily conceal metadata, such as information about communications. The phone and account at either end remain part of the security picture.
Rank #4
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Choose communication methods in light of the source’s risks, and consider what sensitive conversations need to remain on a device or in an account. Discuss safe retention with sources and editors where appropriate; avoid keeping sensitive material longer or in more places than the work requires.
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If you are facing an imminent threat, believe an account or device may be compromised, or are unsure how to protect sensitive sources, seek qualified digital-safety help early rather than relying on a general checklist.
Best Value
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- True 25° Privacy Protection: Most privacy protector on the market only gives 30° viewing, IMBZBK's Privacy Coatings made of new materials from Germany with Microlourver Optical Technology, It offers optimum 25° degree peep (Smaller viewing angles mean stronger privacy protection). The screen is only visible to persons directly in front of the screen, maximum protection For your privacy & sensitive information, even your friends or colleagues sitting next to you also can't see on your messages.
- Military-Grade Shatterproof Protection: IMBZBK’s screen protector sets a new industry standard with Aerospace-Grade Glass and Nano-Ceramic Fusion technology, providing 10X stronger protection than standard 9H glass. Certified by international Military Standards and SGS, it offers 10X stronger protection against scratches, bumps, and drops. Rigorously tested with 220 lbs impacts, 10-foot drops, and 10,000+ scratches, it ensures your phone remains unscathed in any environment.
- Frontal Ultra HD & Original Touch: IMBZBK's privacy protector break through the defects of the blurred picture of the privacy glass films on the market, highly restore the best visual feast brought by the screen. Even more special...Our 0.28mm ultra-thin privacy glass innovatively applied a 9th gen oleophobic nano coating (top-notch skin-friendly), effectively reduces fingerprints, oil residue by 98% to make it smoother than the original screen!
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Access Now describes its Digital Security Helpline as a free, 24/7 resource for eligible civil-society users, including journalists and media organizations. Requests are subject to vetting. Its helpline page states that it responds to requests within two hours; that is Access Now’s stated response timeframe, not a guarantee that it will accept a request or resolve an incident in that time. See its Helpline Mandate for service eligibility information.
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