International Cyber Digest covers the security beat for people who work in it. We're looking for two kinds of contributor, and you can apply for either or both.
Daily
Breaking news reporter
You watch the feeds, and when something lands you file 300–400 clean, checked words while it still matters.
Steady seat — employment or a retainer with agreed shift days.
Longform
Research & investigations
Features, analysis and the digs that take longer, where the value is in what nobody else has connected yet.
Freelance — per piece or a monthly retainer.
How to apply
- Copy the questions below.
- Paste them into an email to apply@internationalcyberdigest.com and answer inline.
- Send. Attach a CV only if you want to.
We use Proton Mail, you can read how their encryption works here. If you'd rather encrypt it manually, our PGP key can be found here.
The questions
----- BEGIN APPLICATION
INTERNATIONAL CYBER DIGEST — CONTRIBUTOR APPLICATION
Send to: apply@internationalcyberdigest.com
SECTION A — everyone
1. Which role are you applying for?
Breaking news / Research / Either or both
2. What working arrangement suits you?
Breaking news: employed with fixed hours, a retainer with
agreed shift days, or open to either.
Research: per piece, a monthly retainer, or open to either.
3. Where are you based? Include timezone please. We only use
it for shift coverage and for routing contracts and
payment.
4. How should we credit you? Real name, a consistent handle,
or varies by story.
5. How can we reach you securely? Signal username and email
address.
6. What do you most want to cover right now, and is there
anything you won't touch?
7. Which languages can you report in besides English?
SECTION B — breaking news applicants
(Applying for research only? Skip to Section C.)
8. Realistically, how long from a story breaking to you
filing 300-400 clean words? And which hours and days can
you cover?
9. A ransomware group lists a well-known company on its leak
site. The company says nothing. In about 150 words: what
do you do before publishing, and how does your headline
change as the story firms up?
SECTION C — research and investigations applicants
(Applying for breaking news only? Skip to Section D.)
10. Pitch a story you'd want to write for us, in one
paragraph, and say why it's underreported. The shape of
the idea is enough.
11. How do you decide a claim is solid enough to publish
when the only evidence comes from an interested party:
a vendor, a threat actor, or a government?
SECTION D — everyone
12. Two or three pieces of your work. Links are ideal; PDFs
are fine if the outlet is offline or paywalled. Work
published under a handle is fine.
13. Briefly: a time you got something wrong, or had to
correct or pull a story. What happened, and what did
you do?
14. Do you use AI tools in your work? (No / translation and
proofreading only / research and summarising / drafting
/ other) — and how?
15. Any conflicts of interest? NDAs, day-job restrictions,
vendor or consulting relationships, bug bounty work —
anything that would make covering a particular company
or government awkward. Tell us too if a current employer
shouldn't learn that you've applied.
16. What are you looking for financially — per article, per
day, or per month?
17. Roughly how many hours a week do you have, which days
suit you, and when could you start?
18. Do you prefer pitching your own ideas, being assigned
topics, or a mix?
19. Anything else you'd like us to know?
20. CV — optional. Attach it or skip it.
END APPLICATION -----
What happens next
We read everything and reply within two weeks, including when the answer is no.