Sources, scoops and a website that has to stay up when the story breaks.

Newspapers & Digital News Outlets IT Services

A newsroom's most valuable asset is trust: sources trust you to keep their identity safe, and readers trust that what appears under your masthead was written by your reporters.

Talk to Us About Newspapers & Digital News Outlets IT 888.792.8080

SOC 2 Aligned

Responsive Support

20+ Years Experience

At a glance

Both are targets, from phishing aimed at investigative reporters to stolen CMS logins used to publish fake stories and traffic floods on election night.

We run IT and security for local papers, digital-native outlets and nonprofit newsrooms, covering reporter account hardening, secure tip lines, CMS access, newsroom and field laptops, subscriber and donor data and the hosting setup that keeps your site responsive under breaking-news load.

We support news organizations in Texas and nationwide, and we never touch editorial decisions.

IT that keeps sources protected, the CMS honest, the site up at 2 a.m..

Security and support for newsrooms whose reporters, sources and readers all depend on systems staying trustworthy.

Newsroom IT

Someone wants your reporter's inbox more than you do

A newsroom is a small business with an outsized target on it. Investigations make powerful people unhappy, breaking news brings traffic spikes and hostile attention, and the CMS can publish to thousands of readers in seconds. Here's what a news day depends on, how outlets actually get hit, and what we put around them.

01 · The pressure

Deadlines, tips and traffic spikes

Reporters file from city hall, courthouses and their cars, editors publish through Newspack, BLOX or Brightspot, and the homepage changes every hour. Tips come in through email, Signal and a SecureDrop instance if you run one. The audience team sends newsletters to subscribers whose payment details sit with your paywall platform. On a big night, traffic jumps many times over. If the CMS goes down or gets abused, you lose the story, the audience and some of the trust you built.

Constant publishing from anywhere
Confidential tips and source communications
Traffic that spikes with every big story

02 · How it breaks

Targeted phishing and a borrowed CMS login

An investigative reporter gets a convincing interview request with a malicious attachment from someone connected to their story. A freelancer's reused password opens their CMS account, and a fake article goes live overnight. Reporter laptops with source notes and recordings travel without encryption. A traffic flood knocks the site offline the night of an election. And the shared newsroom social account, with its password on a sticky note, posts something nobody on staff wrote.

Spear phishing aimed at investigative staff
Stolen contributor logins publishing fakes
Floods that knock the site offline

03 · What we change

Hardened reporters, a locked CMS and a site behind a shield

Reporters and editors get security keys, password managers and encrypted, managed laptops, plus a briefing on targeted phishing and device seizure at borders or protests. CMS access moves behind SSO and MFA, with publishing rights limited by role and logs reviewed. Freelancers get contributor roles that can't publish directly. We put your site behind a CDN with DDoS protection and caching tuned for breaking news, set up and maintain secure tip channels and lock down newsroom social accounts with shared admin roles.

Security keys and encrypted reporter laptops
Role-limited CMS publishing with SSO
CDN and DDoS protection for big nights

04 · The after

Your masthead means what it says

Sources can reach you through channels you understand and maintain. An investigative team can work a sensitive story without wondering whether a reporter's mailbox is already compromised. Election night brings a traffic spike your site absorbs. If a fake article ever appears, logs show exactly which account published it and when. And your editor spends the night on the story, not on the phone with a hosting company.

Tip channels sources can rely on
Logs that trace every published change
Big nights that the site actually survives

Systems we keep running

Newspack
BLOX CMS
Brightspot
Naviga
SecureDrop
Signal
Piano
Google Workspace

Rules we help you meet

PCI DSS 4.0
State data breach notification laws

What We Offer

Comprehensive solutions tailored for Houston-area businesses

Journalist Account and Device Hardening

Reporters on sensitive beats are targeted by people who want to know who they're talking to. We set up hardware security keys, password managers and full-disk encryption, manage laptops and phones centrally and brief staff on spear phishing, malicious documents and what to do if a device is lost, seized or inspected while traveling.

Secure Tip Line Setup and Upkeep

Confidential sources need a safe way to reach you. We help set up and maintain tip channels such as SecureDrop, dedicated Signal numbers and a protected tips mailbox, with clear handling procedures for the editors who check them. Editorial judgment about sources stays entirely with your newsroom.

CMS Access and Publishing Integrity

Your CMS can push a story to every reader at once. We connect it to single sign-on with MFA, limit publish rights by role, give freelancers contributor accounts that need editor approval, remove old accounts and review publishing logs so any unexpected story can be traced to a specific login.

Breaking-News Traffic and DDoS Protection

Election nights, storms and viral investigations bring traffic that can buckle a site, sometimes with hostile floods mixed in. We work with your host and CMS vendor to put the site behind a CDN with DDoS protection, tune caching for live updates and test capacity before predictable big nights.

Subscriber, Member and Donor Data

Paywall subscribers, nonprofit members and donors trust you with contact and payment details. We secure admin access to platforms like Piano or your membership CRM with MFA, keep card handling inside the processor's hosted forms, restrict exports and protect the newsletter platform that holds your audience list.

Reporter Laptops, Hotspots and Help Desk

Reporters work from courthouses, protests and hotel rooms on deadline. We support their laptops, hotspots, VPN, transcription and recording tools, and back up files to managed cloud storage so a dead laptop doesn't take a week of interviews with it. Help desk support is there during business hours, with after-hours emergency response for active incidents.

Why Choose LayerLogix?

Serving businesses throughout the Greater Houston area including Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Atlanta, Nationwide.

Sources Stay Confidential

Hardened accounts, encrypted devices and maintained tip channels lower the chances that a phishing email or a lost laptop exposes who your reporters have been talking to. Protecting sources is an editorial promise, and your IT has to keep it too.

Only Your Staff Publish Under Your Name

Role-limited publishing, SSO and logged CMS activity make it much harder for someone with a stolen password to post a fake story. If anything odd appears, you can trace it to an account and fix it fast.

The Site Holds on Big Nights

CDN caching and DDoS protection help your site stay responsive when everyone in town is refreshing election results or storm updates. That's when new readers find you, when advertisers are watching and when going dark hurts most.

Reporters Spend Time Reporting

Managed laptops, backed-up files and a help desk that understands deadlines mean fewer hours lost to technology. Your reporters can file from anywhere, knowing their notes and recordings aren't one dead drive away from disappearing.

Our Process

We meet with editors, the audience team and a few reporters to map accounts, devices, tip channels, the CMS and hosting.

We roll out security keys, password managers and device management to staff, starting with investigative and politics reporters.

We move the CMS behind SSO and MFA, tighten publishing roles for staff and freelancers and remove stale accounts.

We review hosting and add CDN and DDoS protection, then run a capacity check before your next predictable traffic spike.

We set up or review tip channels, lock down social and newsletter accounts and secure subscriber and donor data access.

We stay on with help desk support, onboarding for new staff and freelancers and a pre-election readiness review.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you set up SecureDrop for our newsroom?▼

We can help you plan and maintain it, working within the Freedom of the Press Foundation's documentation and requirements, which include dedicated hardware and specific operating procedures. Some newsrooms find a simpler setup, like a dedicated Signal number and a protected tips mailbox, fits their size better. We'll walk through the options with your editors. Once a channel is running, we keep it patched, document how editors check it and make sure only the right people can reach it.

Will your engineers see our unpublished stories or sources?▼

We design our access so we don't need to. Our engineers manage devices, accounts and systems, not the content inside them, and we can keep tip channels and sensitive story folders under your newsroom's sole control. Administrative actions we take are logged. If your editors want an even stricter setup for an investigation, such as separate encrypted storage that only the reporting team can open, we'll build it and stay out of it.

Someone published a fake story through our CMS. What now?▼

Take the story down, then lock the account that published it and reset its password and sessions. Check publishing logs for other changes the same account made and look at whether other accounts show unusual logins. We help with that investigation, tighten CMS access with SSO and MFA and limit who can publish directly. Your editors decide how to explain it to readers, and counsel should weigh in if the fake content harms someone.

How do we keep the site up on election night?▼

Prepare weeks ahead. We review your hosting with your CMS vendor, confirm the site sits behind a CDN with DDoS protection and tune caching so live results pages update without hammering the server. We run a load check where your host allows it and set up monitoring with alerts during the event. We also plan a fallback, such as a lightweight live page that's easy to serve, and agree on who calls whom if something breaks.

Our reporters travel internationally. What should they know?▼

Assume devices may be inspected at borders. Before a trip, we help reporters travel with a clean laptop or phone that holds only what they need, with notes synced to managed cloud storage rather than stored locally. Devices are encrypted and protected with strong passcodes. We cover what to do if a device is taken or returned after being out of their sight. Legal questions about border searches belong with your counsel and press freedom organizations.

We depend on freelancers and stringers. How do we manage their access?▼

Give them only what each assignment needs. Freelancers get CMS contributor roles that let them draft but not publish, shared folders limited to their stories and accounts with MFA. Access gets reviewed regularly and removed when a contributor stops working with you. If they file from personal devices, we keep sensitive material in managed cloud storage instead of email attachments. That way a freelancer's compromised password can't publish anything or reach your archive.

Do you provide Newspapers & Digital News Outlets IT Services in Houston and nearby areas?▼

Yes. LayerLogix is based in the Greater Houston area and delivers newspapers & digital news outlets IT services to businesses across Houston and the surrounding communities, including The Woodlands, Spring, Katy, Sugar Land, Conroe, Cypress, and Pearland. For most Houston-area clients we can be on-site the same day when something needs hands-on attention, and our help desk is available during business hours, with after-hours emergency support. Call 713-571-2390 to check coverage for your specific address.

What does Newspapers & Digital News Outlets IT Services cost for a Houston business?▼

Pricing depends on your size and what you need, so we do not publish a one-size-fits-all number — but Houston businesses generally pay a flat, predictable monthly fee rather than surprise hourly bills. We start with a free, no-obligation assessment of your current setup, then give you a clear quote in plain English with no hidden costs. That way you know exactly what you are getting and what it costs before you commit.

Ready to Get Started?

Contact LayerLogix today for a free consultation. We serve businesses throughout Houston, Dallas, Austin, and the surrounding Greater Houston area.

Schedule Free Consultation Call 888.792.8080