The document discusses the evolution of refugee connectivity and the importance of cybersecurity for vulnerable populations in crisis situations. It highlights the historical deployment of hastily formed networks in response to disasters and the increasing significance of communication technologies for refugees, particularly during the 2015 European migration crisis. It emphasizes the need for digital dignity in humanitarian aid and the protection of personal data while addressing cybersecurity threats faced by humanitarian agencies.

1. R E F U G E E S , C O N N E C T I V I T Y, D I G N I T Y
R A K E S H B H A R A N I A - @ D E N S A E R

2. AGENDA
• The Hastily Formed Network
• Refugee Connectivity
• Cybersecurity for Vulnerable
People
• Emerging Challenges
• Digital Dignity

3. T H E H A S T I LY F O R M E D N E T W O R K

4. • “Hastily Formed Networks” crisis data
networks deployed to fill gaps after
an incident (US Naval Postgraduate School)
• Deployed in early forms during
Hurricane Katrina (USA, 2005), and in
exercises like Strong Angel III (USA, 2006)
• Provided connectivity to first responders
and aid organizations.
The first operational HFN was created by NPS, Cisco during
the 2005 Hurricane Katrina response in Mississippi

5. • Haiti Earthquake (2010): “…was the first all-encompassing test of a
predominantly data driven response, due to the fact that much fo the usual
terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure did not exist and responders
had no other option than to use IP-based communications.” (Nelson, et al.
2011)

6. • DadaabNet (Kenya, 2012) - Network deployed in Dadaab Refugee Camp
to connect UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP + 6 NGOs to deal with increased
demand after 2011 Horn of Africa famine.

8. • Hurricane Sandy (USA, 2012): “…marked a shift
in the use of social media in disasters. More
than ever before, government agencies turned
to mobile and online technologies before,
during, and after Sandy made landfall, to
communicate with response partners and
the public in order to share information,
maintain awareness of community actions
and needs” (DHS, 2013)
• Phenomena of the “digital refugee”

9. R E F U G E E C O N N E C T I V I T Y

11. • United Nations Cluster System introduced in 2005
• “Emergency Telecommunications Cluster”
(ETC) is one of the 11 designated clusters.
• “ETC 2020” (2015) - “communications as aid”
recognized the need to provide
communications for affected people
- not just for the responders.

12. • European migration crisis - 2015, largely as a result
of the Syrian Civil War.
• For the first time, refugees were reported to have
substantial number of smartphones (both men and
women)
• The two most common questions: “Where am I?”
and “Do you have Wi-Fi?” (IRC)

13. • NetHope Syrian Refugee connectivity project
• 98 locations between Nov 2015 - Aug 2019
• 1.0+ million users
• Largest single dedicated humanitarian network
rollout

15. • Results: Each additional day an individual
used a phone in the past week was associated
with a reduction in their probability of
being depressed.27
This finding
is similar among both women and men (Poole 2018)
• Still a lot of work to be done about equal access to
technology!

16. C Y B E R S E C U R I T Y F O R V U L N E R A B L E P E O P L E

17. • “Do no harm” principle requires us to protect people and protect the
integrity of humanitarian action.
• Aid workers and beneficiaries are inherently vulnerable populations.
• Who is looking out for digital threats that can complicate offline response
and recovery?

18. D I G I T Z AT I O N
O F A I D W O R K
F O R M A L /
I N F O R M A L A C T O R S
C R I S I S
S I T U AT I O N S
Threat
D I G I TA L
AT TA C K S
P R I VA C Y M A N I P U L AT I O N O P S E C P H Y S I C A L H A R M

19. • Examples:
• Ebola Virus Crisis (2014-15)
• Denial of Service conditions on satellite links
• Nepal Earthquake (2015)
• State-sponsored malware detection on responder laptops

21. “The ongoing threat [to humanitarian operations related to Syria] is
advanced, persistent, and unlike anything most NetHope NGO members
have dealt with to date.”
(Bharania, 2015)

22. • x
Firewall, AMP, IPS on site, DNS protection in the cloud.
60,000+ hostile events stopped/week (2017)

23. • Scalable architecture that enables mass communications for affected
communities.
• Integrated protection at multiple levels which is invisible to the end user
and requires no end-user device intervention.
• Standardized as default NetHope emergency
response architecture - deployed during Hurricane
Maria (Puerto Rico, 2017), Northern Uganda
(2018), Venezuelan Refugee Crisis (2019) - 86+
sites, 100+ planned.

24. E M E R G I N G C H A L L E N G E S

25. • Responsible Data movement
• OCHA, ICRC, USAID - data protection
handbooks and guidelines
• Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Signal Code
• Responsible partnerships with the
private sector?
The Principles for Digital Development

26. Massive amounts of data in modern humanitarian affairs - but who controls
and protects it? What about individual agency and consent?

27. Information warfare, disinformation, and propaganda as a catalyst for
delegitimization of humanitarian action.

28. Social media as a accelerator for genocide and atrocity

29. D I G I TA L D I G N I T Y

30. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family,
home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation.
- Article 12, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

31. • Communications is a form of humanitarian aid co-equal to food, shelter,
medical care and other essential human needs.
• We have an obligation to provision technology to be inclusive, safe, and
protective. It must not act in a manner contrary to the needs of the
individual.
• Humanitarian innovation must seek to continually identify potential harms
and minimize them.

32. • The goal is human dignity.

33. Q U E S T I O N S ?