Comms materials to spread the word!
We are happy to launch “Tech Care. A step-by-step guide to providing digital support for civil society”, developed with the collaboration of different CiviCERT members to enable smaller organisations and grassroots groups to set up a team to respond to the digital safety needs of the people they work and fight with.
As digital attacks on civil society and vulnerable minorities increase both in number and intensity, new digital security help desks are being created all over the world. However, the available documentation did not match the actual needs of a help desk offering digital safety support to civil society groups. Tech Care is a set of simple instructions that could help navigate the workflows and procedures of a digital security help desk while focusing on the specific demand of offering a service to groups that are often underfunded, understaffed, non-hierarchical and exposed to disproportionate threats and the consequent risk of post-traumatic stress disorder among their staff or volunteers.
Follow the steps outlined in Tech Care to start planning the creation of a digital security help desk for civil society. Chapter 1 describes how to decide what your help desk is going to do, for whom, and which policies will be required to deliver these services. Chapter 2 outlines the various steps needed to make a realistic plan for your help desk. Chapter 3 illustrates the incident handling process. Finally, chapter 4 offers recommendations on how and why to collaborate with other digital security help desks.
Tech Care is available in English and Spanish at https://tech-care.cc/ and provides templates for developing your help desk’s policies.
Useful links
- Tech Care website: https://tech-care.cc
- Tech Care guide in PDF (English).
- CuidaTech en PDF (Spanish).
Key Messages
- Who provides support to the helplines? The Tech Care guide aims at providing support to digital security helplines that are too often underfunded, understaffed, and exposed to disproportionate threats.
- Creating a digital security helpline for civil society? This step-by-step guide present some of the best practices informed by CiviCERT members.
- Hotlines, Helplines, Help Desks, CERTS…. there are many different ways to support others facing digital risks. Our step-by-step guide will clarify concepts and provide you with examples of good practices.
- What are the steps you should plan before creating a digital security helpline? Design your framework, make a realistic plan, create your incident handling process, think beyond your team and enjoy the process!
- The Tech Care guide provides a set of simple instructions to help you navigate the workflows and procedures of a digital security helpline for civil society.