Ramy Raoof, 2023 winner
Ramy Raoof is a technology, privacy, and digital security researcher, who works at the intersection of technology and social causes. His recent works focus on researching targeted digital attacks against human rights defenders and NGOs, and developing digital security protocols and capacity building with activists in the Middle East and Central America around targeted surveillance and mass censorship.
Over the past 10 years Raoof developed digital security strategies for NGOs and members of the media, as well as rapid response plans in cases of physical threats and operational plans for human rights emergency response teams in Egypt, the Middle East, and the Northern Africa Region. He also developed strategies in support of publishing sensitive material and secure systems for managing information about sexual violence and torture survivors. He contributed to the testing of privacy apps, the localization of privacy apps into Arabic, and the development of organizational privacy protocols.
In October 2017, Raoof received the international award Heroes of Human Rights and Communications Surveillance; in May 2016 he received the international Bobs Award in recognition of his work in digital security and privacy. In January 2016, he was included in the World Top 100 Info Security Influencers list by CISO Platform in India, and in 2012 he was ranked number 10 by Newsweek Magazine in the Revolutionaries list of the Digital Power Index, after being ranked number 14 in the Forbes Middle East Top 100 Arab Presence on Twitter a year earlier.
Prior to joining OTF, Raoof worked as Tactical Technologist at Amnesty International’s Security Lab, and was Research Fellow with Citizen Lab. He also served on Tor Project’s Board of Directors from 2017 to 2022.