Digital Security Culture - Facilitation Proposal¶

Help us pick dates for this facilitation. Any dates with 10 - 20 people we can host the training:¶

Executive Summary¶

A 3-hour foundational workshop teaching political organizers how to think about digital security as collective practice rather than individual paranoia. Participants learn threat modeling, security culture principles, and practical habits that protect movements from surveillance and repression. This session is the essential prerequisite for the Corporate Free Digital Platforms training, establishing why we need to escape corporate infrastructure before we learn how.

Facilitator Background¶

Reed brings experience in political organizing, digital infrastructure, and movement security culture. Background includes practical deployment of secure communications systems for organizing work, training organizers in digital security practices, and building self-hosted infrastructure that keeps organizing data out of corporate and state hands. This isn't theoretical - it's hard-won knowledge from actual organizing under surveillance.

Avery brings community organizing, prairie history, and artistic talent. Their background includes professional facilitation for large groups, organizing major art installations for political effect, and dozens of years of political activism on Treaty 6 territory.

Training Overview¶

Security culture is how we collectively protect our movements from the people and institutions that want to destroy them. Digital Security Culture are practices that extend these practices to digital organizing.

We set a foundation of knowledge for all participants and build a collective social contract. This training teaches participants to identify threats, assess risks, and build collective security practices. We cover what you actually need to know and skip the cybersecurity theater. By the end, participants understand who might target their organizing, what those adversaries can access, and how to build habits that protect the movement without making organizing impossible.

Organizations need this because insecure practices create vulnerabilities that get exploited when the stakes get high. Good security culture protects people, operations, and movements.

Learning Objectives¶

Participants will be invited to help define their own learning objectives. Top of mind for the facilitator is:

Conduct basic threat modeling for their organization and campaigns
Identify the difference between security culture and security theater
Recognize common surveillance vectors (email, social media, phones, location data)
Make informed decisions about communication tools based on actual threats
Build collective security agreements within their organizations
Understand when to prioritize accessibility over security and vice versa
Recognize and respond to common digital attacks (phishing, social engineering)

Target Audience¶

Political organizers, campaign staff, movement leaders, nonprofit workers, and anyone doing work that challenges power. Assumes basic digital literacy (can use email and social media) but no technical background required. Particularly valuable for: - Organizations planning escalated campaigns - Groups handling sensitive member information - Movements facing state or corporate opposition - Anyone preparing for the Corporate Free Digital Platforms training

No prerequisites. All politics welcome but session assumes participants are doing organizing that someone doesn't want them to do.

Session Structure¶

Duration: 3 hours (single session) Format: In-person strongly preferred, virtual possible but less effective for building collective agreements Class Size: 8-20 participants

Agenda¶

0:00-0:15 - Introductions & Threat Landscape Quick intros, establish what we're protecting and from whom

0:15-1:15 - Knowledge Foundation: What Do We Know? Interactive sticky note wall exercise to surface participants' existing knowledge, assumptions, questions, and concerns about digital security. Participants contribute anonymously or publicly to collaborative mapping of collective baseline understanding. This activity identifies knowledge gaps, misconceptions, and shared concerns that shape the rest of the session.

1:15-1:40 - Threat Modeling Workshop Hands-on exercise: map your actual threats and what they can access. Red team, Blue team.

1:40-2:00 - Security Culture Principles Information compartmentalization, need-to-know, collective responsibility

2:00-2:25 - Practical Tools & Habits Passwords, 2FA, encrypted messaging, email hygiene, social media safety

2:25-2:50 - Building Collective Agreements Group exercise: draft security practices for participants' organizations

2:50-3:00 - Questions, Resources, Next Steps Wrap-up and connection to Corporate Free Digital Platforms training

Facilitation Approach¶

This is interactive, not a lecture. We use real scenarios from participants' organizing work, not hypotheticals about hackers in hoodies. Key methods:

Threat modeling exercise: Participants map their own organizations, identifying adversaries and what those adversaries can access
Case studies: Real examples of organizers getting compromised (and how it could have been prevented)
Group problem-solving: Participants help each other identify vulnerabilities and solutions
Collective agreements: Groups draft actual security practices they'll implement
De-mystification: Breaking down surveillance capabilities into understandable concepts

The facilitation style is direct and practical. No fear-mongering, no selling products, no pretending perfect security is achievable. We build solidarity through shared understanding of risk.