Security in-a-Box Community Focus: Digital Security Tools and Tactics for the LGBTI Community in Sub-Saharan Africa

In the context of continuous and determined legal, religious, social, economic, and digital marginalisation and harassment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersexed (LGBTI) community in most of sub-Saharan Africa, this guide is designed to assist LGBTI activists and human rights defenders understand digital security threats and give them the tools and tactics that can be used to overcome them. 

As stated in the guide, “the internet has emerged as a viable option for LGBTI persons to gain visibility, communicate, network, and express what they cannot express in public. Social networks, blogging platforms and forums have become, in most African countries, the only spaces where LGBTI persons can have a voice, organise themselves, formulate their discourses around their issues and fight for recognition.”  However, despite the opportunities these platforms offer activists, the platforms remain fraught with potential threats to the LGBTI community.

The aim of the toolkit is to make the issue of digital security clearer and easier to understand and implement in the personal and professional context of LGBTI individuals from the region.  It expands on an existing Security in-a-Box toolkit for human rights defenders, developed by Tactical Technology Collective and Front Line Defenders, by including important contextual information, tools and tips particularly relevant to the LGBTI community. These were identified by members of the community in workshops and other interactions in 2013 and 2014.  This guide was preceded by a similar guide for the Arabic-speaking LGBTI community, and includes some of the same content.

The guide first explores common threats, such as entrapment, extortion, harassment, and unauthorised access to devices experienced by the LGBTI community, and offers guidelines on how to assess digital risk. It then links to the tools and tactics which can help LGBTI persons to stay safe. The content includes testimonies of human rights defenders from the community, as well as examples and accounts of attacks.

The content of the guide includes the following:

Part I - Context

• Introduction
• Digital attacks against the African LGBTI community
• How to assess your digital security risk

Part II - How-to Booklet   

• How to protect your computer from malware and hackers
• How to protect your information from physical threats
• How to create and maintain secure passwords
• How to protect the sensitive files on your computer
• How to recover from information loss
• How to remove hidden metadata from files
• How to destroy sensitive information
• How to keep your Internet communication private
• How to remain anonymous and bypass censorship on the internet
• How to protect yourself and your data when using social networking sites
• How to protect yourself and your data when using LGBTI dating sites
• How to use mobile phones as securely as possible
• How to use smartphones as securely as possible
• How to use Internet Cafés as securely as possible