Tip Sheet: Maintaining confidential digital dialogue during humanitarian emergencies

Maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of communications with the people we support is of fundamental importance in humanitarian settings. This tip sheet, produced jointly by IOM, OCHA, The Centre for Humanitarian Data, IFRC and ICRC, offers:

  • An overview of the threats to confidentiality associated with digital communications in higher risk humanitarian contexts, including physical and covert surveillance, metadata, interception and hacking
  • Recommendations to mitigate those threats, including communication protocols, countermeasures, digital security, choice of application and digital hygiene
  • A set of resources that can be used to help identify suitable communications tools