Aleksey Chalabyan is a digital and information security consultant at Open Briefing. With over 20 years of experience in various IT roles, he has worked with non-profits, international organisations, and private-sector companies. In addition to supporting NGOs as a technology consultant, he has founded organisations himself and contributed to several foundations. He is also well known locally as a volunteer and initiator of multiple technology community projects and events.
For the past seven years, Aleksey has focused on cybersecurity, contributing to initiatives such as CyHub Armenia, where he worked on building Armenia’s cybersecurity capacity and cybersecurity education.
He is currently part of CyberHUB-AM, defending civil society across the Eastern Partnership region from cyber threats.
Aleksey is fluent in Armenian, Russian, and English, and serves as a board member of the Eastern Partnership Digital Security Practitioners Network as well as member of Affiliation Committee of the Wikimedia Foundation board.
Ragheb Ghandour is a digital and information security consultant at Open Briefing. He brings extensive experience in the field, having held various corporate-level positions as a cybersecurity architect. Since at least 2019, he has supported the Lebanese human rights and digital rights communities as a cybersecurity technologist with SMEX.
In addition to his consultancy work, Ragheb is a Digital Forensics Fellow with Amnesty International, where he contributes expertise in digital forensics analysis and reverse engineering. He specialises in cybersecurity governance and international standards, ensuring the highest level of security in alignment with organisational risk contexts.
Based in Marseille, France, he supports local communities and grassroots movements across the SWANA region. Ragheb is an alumnus of the Lebanese University in Beirut, where he focused on information systems and crisis management. He began his career in web development and system administration and also holds a bachelor’s degree in systems architecture from Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) in Paris.
Elodie Vialle is a holistic safety trainer with civil society organisations, with a focus on building digital resilience. She has a journalistic background and has advised journalists and newsrooms leaders on their digital strategy around the globe for the last 15 years.
An alumni of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, she was a Fellow at the Institute for Rebooting Social Media at Harvard – focusing on building escalation channels with social media platforms for journalists and human rights defenders facing online attacks – a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan, and the Head of the Technology Desk at Reporters without Borders. She started her career as a TV journalist and as a Radio columnist focusing on change-making initiatives at French national radio France Inter.
Ashley Fowler is the director of digital and information security at Open Briefing. She brings 15 years’ experience building and managing diverse teams, designing tailored interventions, and advancing social justice efforts. Before joining Open Briefing, she was senior manager of internet freedom and resilience programmes at Internews, where she led a portfolio of global projects working at the intersection of technology and human rights.
Ashley is an active member of the internet freedom community, leading initiatives on organisational security, journalist security, and threat information sharing. She co-founded the human rights centred design community and has collaborated with trainers, design experts, and tool developers to ensure open source privacy and security tools meet the needs of at-risk users.
Prior to joining Internews, Ashley worked extensively with global LGBTQIA+ communities, and she remains committed to ongoing advocacy and solidarity.
Hana Hobscheid is the digital and information security coordinator at Open Briefing. She brings seven years of experience managing international programming focused on areas such as digital security for human rights defenders and journalists, supporting independent media, empowering youth, education, and workforce development. Most recently, Hana worked for the Internet Freedom and Resilience team at Internews, managing digital security projects worldwide. She is also passionate about engaging in activism, advocacy, training, and teaching in her local community in the US. She holds a master’s degree in international development and a bachelor’s degree in international studies and Arabic studies.
Shakeeb Al-Jabri is a digital and information security consultant at Open Briefing, with over a decade of experience at the intersection of technology and human rights. During the Arab Spring, Shakeeb dedicated himself to supporting civil society organisations and media outlets, aiding their growth into professional, sustainable operations. In 2012, he founded Syria Newsdesk, where he implemented a training programme for over 200 citizen journalists on professional journalism and digital security. After relocating from Syria to Sweden in 2014, he shifted his focus to cybersecurity, specialising in equipping activists and organisations with the tools and knowledge needed to maintain effective digital security practices, including as a community manager and technologist at Internews. He has coordinated the Rapid Response Network MENA since he founded this community of tech practitioners in 2018. Shakeeb holds a degree in public administration and a diploma in media communication from the American University of Beirut.
Celso Bessa is a digital and information security consultant at Open Briefing, with a wealth of experience in technology and human rights. Since transitioning from an 18-year career in the private sector in 2018, he has focused on advising academics, activists, NGOs, and philanthropies worldwide, with a particular emphasis on Latin America. Celso specialises in digital security audits, training, and research – helping human rights defenders and organisations address complex security challenges. Celso is a member of the steering committee of the Public Interest Technologist Network and was previously a Tech Exchange Media Democracy Fund (MDF) fellow with Consumers International and Dejusticia. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, and splits his time between Brazil and Colombia.
Myo Min Oo is a a digital and information security consultant at Open Briefing, with over a decade of experience operating in high-risk and complex environments. He has partnered with prominent international organisations, including UNICEF, Internews, and the World Bank, to strengthen digital resilience for civil society organisations, journalists, and professionals in sensitive sectors. In 2021, he founded an internet service provider in Rakhine State, Myanmar, which now serves a community of 3,000 users across five major cities. Myo specialises in conducting digital security audits, providing customised training, and implementing practical, innovative security solutions. His work is centred on helping organisations enhance their security infrastructure and effectively address digital threats, particularly in regions facing significant challenges to digital safety.
