Source: Access

Access is an international human rights organization premised on the belief that political participation and the realization of human rights in the 21st century is increasingly dependent on access to the Internet and other forms of technology. Access has offices in various cities around the world, including the lovable San Jose, Costa Rica.

From Costa Rica, the Access Digital Security Helpline recently assisted in an effort to restore press freedom in the troubled African nation of Sudan. Here are the highlights of a recent blog post from Access on this situation:

In Sudan, the government heavily restricts the exercise of freedom of expression, online and off. In some areas, bloggers and journalists have been harassed, persecuted, imprisoned, or even killed for expressing their views.

 

During the 2015 general elections in Sudan, several online newspapers were targeted for malicious hacking and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. When one opposition newspaper became unreachable due to a suspected DDoS attack, Dalia Haj-Omar, a Sudanese human rights advocate living in France, enlisted the help of Access’ Digital Security Helpline, through which activists, independent media, and civil society organizations across the globe can get real-time, direct technical assistance and advice 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With our assistance, the opposition paper was accessible again within 48 hours.

 

“[An opposition newspaper] suffered a DDoS attack, but it had taken them five days to find out it was a DDoS attack. They saw that it was happening, but they didn’t have the resources to figure out what it was or what to do,” explains Haj-Omar.

 

After learning about the DDoS attack, Haj-Omar — who was introduced to Access in 2009, during the national protests in Sudan — reached out to our Digital Security Helpline, which has offices in Costa Rica, Tunis, and Manila.

 

“It was the weekend, so I thought, ‘Okay, this will take a few days.’ But the response was instant,” she says. “The Costa Rica office was right there. They shared a link to request a download for the Deflect software, and the process got started right away.”

 

The issue was fixed in 48 hours, and the newspaper was back online keeping the people informed about topics related to the political status quo and the opposition in nation where press freedom cannot be taken for granted, unlike in Costa Rica.

The Access staff added this important footnote: Sudan has been placed under sanctions by the U.S. for certain transactions; however, we believe our work through the helpline complies because it supports the free flow of information online and facilitates personal communications by Sudanese people.

Get to know the good people of Access in Costa Rica:

Peter Saugman | Costa Rica Office Operations Associate

Peter is bringing extensive international work experience to Access, that spans the USA, Indonesia, Singapore, Venezuela, Belgium, Costa Rica, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and beyond. He has worked for a variety of organizations, from the Danish Municipality for the City of Odense, to extracting ethanol from fruit waste in Costa Rica, and a treatment centre for addiction and alcoholism in La Paz, Bolivia. Not to mention that he speaks Danish, English, Spanish and French and understands a number of other languages.

Rogelio Lopez | Security Incident Handler

Rogelio studied CS at Universidad de Costa Rica. He has been a software developer for the corporate world for over 5 years and decided it was time for a change. He wanted to join civil society so he can help other people and give something back to the community. Now Rogelio is working as a Security Incident Handler for Access’ Costa Rica team. He loves learning new things and languages. He also lived in Brazil for a year (2013) so he is fluent in Portuguese (besides English and Spanish). Rogelio is very open minded and likes to talk about philosophy, science and language.

Daniel Bedoya Arroyo | Security Incident Shift Lead

Daniel is a Security Incident Handler Shift Lead at Access. He works in Access Costa Rica Office. He is currently working on his Masters Degree in Computer Science at the University of Costa Rica. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Electronics Engineer from the Instituto Tecnologico de Costa Rica. Previuosly he worked at Costa Rica’s biggest ISP in a Security Operation Center environment, as an Operations Engineer and Quality Assurance Engineer.

Marcos Calderon | Security Incident Handler

Marcos is a Security Incident Handler in the Access Costa Rica Office. He is finishing his Bachelor Degree in computer science at Tecnologico de Costa Rica and aims to specialize in digital security. Marcos worked in the past on a technical support center, and his commitment to help others is something he already has in his soul.