Anjuli Shere, AIB research analyst and cyber security PhD student at the University of Oxford, and pre-doctoral fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, is undertaking a major piece of research that to help members of the media understand and counter threats to journalism from novel networked devices, known as the Internet of Things.

This research is necessary because journalists face many threats – from physical attacks while covering protests and riots, to laws citing national security justifications that encroach on source protections, and increasingly, technologies such as spyware. All of these threats can be facilitated and exacerbated by the so-called “consumer Internet of Things” (the IoT): a variety of common networked devices that include gaming systems, smart cars and fitness trackers. While there has been a lot of reporting on the topic of spyware, there is relatively little awareness of the dangers that the IoT poses to journalists and press freedom generally. Like spyware, IoT can monitor messages, location information and daily actions. Unlike spyware, the IoT can also facilitate cyber-physical threats. In an article for The Journalist’s Resource, Anjuli Shere discussed the issues with ubiquitous and designed-for-subtly IoT technologies being effectively an “unknown unknown”.

The AIB has now invited representatives of its Member organisations around the world to take part in the survey, and this is being widened to the whole broadcast news media. 

This survey is intended to evaluate a framework that Anjuli has developed which labels and categorises these threats to journalists and possible countermeasures, to assess if and how these can be useful for journalist risk assessment and management. The survey will cover basic biographical information to establish relevant expertise and experience in the media, as well as questions to collect thoughts on Anjuli’s research. It will take approximately 45 minutes to complete, with a deadline of 1st April 2022.

While the ways in which journalists defend themselves against threats regarding smartphones and laptops are known and documented, Anjuli is researching the impact of novel networked technologies (known as the Internet of Things) on journalism. Anjuli’s goal is to determine which factors (e.g. aspects of logistics, preparation, personnel, etc.) might be sources of best practice and effective for cyber protection for the journalistic ecosystem in the future. It is hoped that this research will be an important step towards protecting media freedom in a world with a rapidly evolving attack environment.

This research study has been approved by The University of Oxford’s Central Ethics Committee (reference: CS_C1A_021_027), and contributes to Anjuli’s doctoral research. 

If you are interested in joining this important research project, please contact the AIB Secretariat on +44 20 7993 2557 or email register [@] aib.org.uk.