Before his suicide in January 2013, Aaron Swartz had worked together with the hacker and Wired editor Kevin Poulson on a platform for whistleblowers called Dead Drop. The software allows the transmission of messages and documents between whistleblowers and journalists. The sources of the data are protected by the fact that even the news organization contacted may not even know who has transmitted the messages. The aim of the tool is to protect information from anonymous sources on the internet.

Aaron Swartz did not have it done to complete his big project and now Freedoom of the Press Foundation has done this for him as well as taken charge of the DeadDrop project. In coming months, the Foundation will also provide on-site installation and technical support to news organizations that wish to run the system, which has been renamed SecureDrop.

The Open Source SecureDrop

SecureDrop is a safe, secure, virtual system where journalists can exchange information with hackers. The WikiLeaks media, it has been called, was Swartzs vision, who has become a symbol of freedom of information and of that part of the digital world.

The system assigns a unique code for each source and thus an anonymous entity can establish a relationship with the media without the need to give a name or face. The New Yorker, was one of the first institutions to adopt SecureDrop under the name StrongBox.

In August, the University of Washington safety experts and security expert Bruce Schneier had raised concerns about the safety of Dead Drop. The Freedom of the Press Foundation had therefore entrusted the security professional James Dolan with the revision of the software. Even now, with the main problems resolved, further improvements has been promised. Dolan had already helped the New Yorkerbuild and secure their own Dead Drop Strongbox implementation.

Any organization can install SecureDrop for free and can make modifications because the project is open-source. The foundation has written detailed installation instructions, which can be found on GitHub.

Although its creators do not guarantee 100% security, they do say that this tool has been tested in several studies to prove its high levels of security, but there are always risks. SecureDrop runs a public servant who serves in the face for the project, another server that archives the messages and documents and another that monitors the safety of the first two. SecureDrop still relies on donations to stay alive, but also accepts comments from developers interested in discussing the topic.

WikiLeaks, PRISM, and SecureDrop

With all the hype of WikiLeaks, PRISM, Edward Snowden and NSA that shock the world, a system in which people can share their knowledge in a completely anonymous way seems no longer a luxury in this period.

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Freedom of the Press Offers SecureDrop, a Tribute to the Legacy of Aaron Swartz