What is the Digital First Aid Kit and what does it cover?

The Digital First Aid Kit (DFAK) is a free resource to help rapid responders, digital security trainers, and tech-savvy activists to better protect themselves and the communities they support against the most common types of digital emergencies, such as: devices or data loss, devices and accounts acting suspiciously, websites not working, online impersonation, and online harassment. The DFAK can also be used by anyone who wants to learn more about how they can protect themselves and support others. The DFAK is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, and French.

What is the context?

The Digital First Aid Kit is developed in 2015 as a free and open resource informed by the experience of rapid responders and digital security experts focused on supporting groups and organisations striving towards social justice and the defence of human and digital rights. This second version of the DFAK aimed to update the digital emergency and issues addressed in its contents as we know that online threats are evolving at a fast pace, and it also wanted to shift its focus in order to become a resource supporting readers in diagnosing what is happening to them or to people they are supporting. This is why, in each section, readers answer questions to help establish what the cause of the problem is, and are then directed to tips, resources or organizations that can offer them more support. You can find the full list of organizations offering support in this page.

What is the method and framework?

The methodological framework for the Digital First Aid Kit is based on two events that took place in September 2018 and April 2019 for which 25 different individual members of RaReNet (Rapid Response Network) and/or CiviCERT have worked together in designing the selection of topics that should be addressed, identification of the technical platform, how to develop workflows enabling this resource to guide readers in a diagnosis of the digital emergencies they are facing and documentation of the different services that support organisations can provide in case readers cannot solve the digital emergency they are facing themselves.

Who created the content listed in the Digital First Aid Kit?

The Digital First Aid Kit is a collaborative effort of RaReNet and CiviCERT. RaReNet is an international network of rapid responders and digital security champions, which includes Access Now, CIRCL, EFF, Front Line Defenders, Freedom House, Global Voices, Greenhost , Hivos & the Digital Defenders Partnership, Internews, Open Technology Fund, Virtual Road, as well as individual security experts. Some of these organisations and individuals are also part of CiviCERT, a professional framing for the rapid response community’s distributed CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) efforts. CiviCERT is accredited by Trusted Introducer, the European network of trusted computer emergency response teams. The DFAK is also an open-source project that accepts outside contributions. Finally, the translations to Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian and French have been achieved by professional translators that are also part of rapid response networks and understand the specifics of digital emergencies and online threats.

What is the licensing for the Digital First Aid Kit?

The content of the DFAK are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY). Licensees may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works and remixes based on it, only if they give the author or licencor the credits (attribution) in the manner specified by those.

Contact?

For any comment, suggestion, or question about the DFAK you can write to: dfak@digitaldefenders.org – GPG fingerprint: 1759 8496 25C1 56EC 1EB4 1F06 6CC1 888F 5D75 706B