🛡️ Surveillance Self-Defense Masterclass
Returning October 2026.
John Kiriakou, a former CIA counterterrorism officer, and Sean O’Brien, a cybersecurity researcher at Yale Law School, have taught this material to exclusive, small cohorts over the years. This updated version puts the full course online so you can work through it on your own schedule.
✔️ Full 12-week curriculum
✔️ On-demand video course
✔️ Completely asynchronous
✔️ No required live sessions
✔️ Videos, readings, and practical exercises
✔️ Material from the former Hidden Trackers class folded in
✔️ Work through the course at your own pace
🎓 Twelve Weeks, on Your Schedule
Returning October 2026. The full twelve-week curriculum is coming back as an on-demand video course, with material from the former Hidden Trackers class folded in.
The course is asynchronous. There are no required live sessions. Watch the videos, read the material, do the exercises, and move at your own pace.
John and Sean bring two very different perspectives to the material: firsthand intelligence experience and cybersecurity and privacy research. Together, they explore how surveillance works, what information our devices and communications expose, and what practical steps you can take to reduce unnecessary risk.
🔍 What You’ll Learn
Threat Modeling
- Identify what you actually need to protect
- Think realistically about who or what you are protecting it from
- Understand how your risks change depending on your circumstances
- Choose security measures that make sense for your actual threat model
Phones & Operating Systems
- Understand what information leaves your device during ordinary use
- Learn how mobile operating systems affect privacy and security
- Examine how applications communicate with services outside your device
- Make better decisions about the software and devices you rely on
Hidden Trackers
- Learn how ordinary apps and services can track their users
- Understand the hidden data flows behind everyday technology
- Learn techniques for seeing who your applications communicate with
- Work through material from Ivy Cyber’s former Hidden Trackers class, now incorporated into the Masterclass
Encrypted Communications & Metadata
- Understand what end-to-end encryption protects
- Learn what encryption does not hide
- See what metadata can reveal about your communications
- Understand what information may still be exposed through legal process
Passwords & Recovery
- Build better password habits
- Protect recovery phrases and account recovery information
- Understand how recovery mechanisms can become a security weakness
- Develop habits that keep important credentials both secure and usable
Travel & Borders
- Prepare your devices before traveling
- Think carefully about the information you carry with you
- Understand how your threat model may change while traveling
- Consider privacy and security risks associated with borders and unfamiliar environments
🕵️ Two Perspectives on Surveillance
The Masterclass brings together experience from both the intelligence and technical worlds.
John Kiriakou spent fourteen years at the CIA and brings firsthand experience with intelligence operations, surveillance, operational security, threat awareness, and counterterrorism.
Sean O’Brien researches surveillance, mobile security, privacy, and Free/Libre and Open Source Software. His work examines how modern technologies collect and expose information and how people can use privacy-respecting alternatives.
The goal is not to teach you to memorize a list of privacy tools. It is to help you understand how surveillance works, what your technology reveals, how to evaluate risk, and how to make better decisions for yourself.
💻 How the Course Works
The complete Masterclass is delivered online as an on-demand course designed to fit around your schedule.
- Watch the video lessons when it is convenient for you
- Read the accompanying course material
- Practice with exercises that reinforce the concepts being taught
- Progress through the complete 12-week curriculum at your own pace
There are no required live sessions.
You do not need to be online on a particular day or at a particular time to complete the course.
👤 Who Should Enroll?
You do not need to be a cybersecurity professional to take the Masterclass.
The course is designed for:
- People who want greater control over their privacy and digital lives
- Journalists, researchers, activists, and others who work with sensitive information
- Cybersecurity students and professionals interested in surveillance and privacy
- Executives and professionals responsible for privacy or security
- Travelers who want to make better decisions about the devices and information they carry
- Anyone interested in surveillance, intelligence, privacy, and practical digital self-defense
👥 Your Instructors
John Kiriakou
Former CIA counterterrorism officer and Security Advisor to Ivy Cyber.
John spent fourteen years at the CIA and brings firsthand experience with intelligence operations, surveillance, operational security, threat awareness, and counterterrorism. He has taught the Surveillance Self-Defense material alongside Sean to small Ivy Cyber cohorts over the years.
Sean O’Brien
Founder of Ivy Cyber and cybersecurity researcher at Yale Law School.
Sean researches surveillance, mobile security, privacy, and Free/Libre and Open Source Software. He founded Ivy Cyber to develop, publish, and support privacy-respecting technology people can actually use and has taught the Surveillance Self-Defense curriculum alongside John for years.
♻️ Took the Class Before?
If you attended a previous version of the class, you do not need to purchase it again.
Previous attendees will receive access to the updated course when it opens.
To confirm your previous enrollment, contact hello@ivycyber.com from the email address you originally used to enroll so we can match you to the class roster.
🧾 Enrollment
Surveillance Self-Defense Masterclass: $100
The new 12-week, on-demand Masterclass returns in October 2026.
Join the waiting list now to be notified when enrollment opens.
⚠️ Please Note
- This course is educational in nature and does not provide legal, financial, or individualized operational advice.
- Course material may discuss surveillance, intelligence operations, terrorism, war, whistleblowing, and other sensitive subjects.
- Course materials and exercises may be updated as technologies and surveillance practices change.
- All customers agree to our Terms & Conditions.
🛡️ Learn From Experience. Defend with Knowledge.
Learn how surveillance works, understand what your technology reveals, and build practical habits for protecting your communications, devices, information, and privacy.