Hacker Runa Sandvik has tried to defend newsrooms and journalists from strong opponents who wish to hide misconduct and corruption from the public.
The affluent and cunning who want to conceal the truth are increasingly targeting journalists and activists, from nation-state allied hackers breaking into journalists’ email accounts to governments installing cellphone spyware to monitor their loudest opponents.
Few people are more familiar with the dangers that journalists endure than Sandvik, a native of Norway. She trained journalists to hide their online activity at the Tor Project, protected The New York Times newsroom from hackers and nation-state adversaries, and assisted groups like the Freedom of the Press Foundation in developing tools that enable journalists, like us at TechCrunch, to securely communicate with sources and receive sensitive source documents. In addition, Sandvik is a well-known hacker, security researcher, and most recently, a founder.
With her new business, Granitt—whose principal is Sandvik—wants to protect those who are in danger, such as journalists, activists, politicians, attorneys, refugees, and human rights advocates, from the dangers they confront while carrying out their jobs.
When we talked in New York City this week, Sandvik said, “Any time someone finds themselves in a category where there could be some consequences for them doing whatever it is they’re doing, that’s something I would consider ‘at risk’ and something that I can help with.”
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