Digital safety lab: Tools and tactics for shelters¶

Many shelters and advocacy groups already fight digital abuse on the front lines — but the tools to understand what’s really happening on a survivor’s device are often too expensive, too complex, or simply not designed for this kind of work.

The IPA Digital Safety Lab aims to change that. Using affordable, open-source tools like the PiRogue (a portable device built on a Raspberry Pi for analysing network traffic) and a customised IPA SIEM stack (a lightweight security monitoring setup tailored for intimate partner abuse contexts), shelters can:

• Detect tracking apps and spyware in real time

• Analyse device behaviour without compromising evidence

• Spot patterns across cases (with consent) to strengthen advocacy

• Build local capacity with practical skills and shared knowledge

This section walks you through how to build your own lab — from setting up a PiRogue, to deploying the SIEM stack on donated hardware, to developing workflows that support survivor autonomy while protecting privacy and dignity.

It’s not about turning support workers into forensic analysts. It’s about giving teams the confidence and tools to ask better questions, spot red flags, and push back against digital coercion — one connection at a time.