On 9 June, the Guardian launched a new tool for protecting journalistic sources. Secure Messaging, a new whistleblowing innovation, makes it easier and safer for anyone to share stories and tips with its journalists via the Guardian app.
Built by the Guardian’s product and engineering team in partnership with the University of Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology, Secure Messaging is a new approach to confidential communication between the public and the press.
The Guardian says Secure Messaging is unlike traditional information sharing platforms. The tech behind the tool conceals the fact that messaging is taking place at all. It makes the communication indistinguishable from data sent to and from the app by millions of regular users. So, by using the Guardian app, readers are effectively providing ‘cover’ and helping us to protect sources, added the publisher
Secure Messaging is not just a significant source protection tool for the Guardian. The publisher says as part of its commitment to protecting the press and the public interest globally, the Guardian has published the source code for the technology that enables this system. This means that other organisations can use this technology freely to implement secure messaging tools within their own apps.
The development of Secure Messaging comes at a time when journalists and their confidential sources are under pressure in the US and globally. The Guardian says this work underpins its long-standing commitment to investigative journalism in the public interest and to safeguarding those who take risks to expose the truth.
Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media, says: “Investigative reporting is extremely important to the Guardian; we have been exposing wrongdoing and scrutinising power with complete independence for decades. We know first-hand how impactful investigations so often depend on trusted reader-reporter interactions. Blowing the whistle on wrongdoing has always taken bravery and, as threats to journalists around the world increase, so does the need to protect confidential sources.”
Caspar Llewellyn Smith, chief product officer, Guardian News & Media says: “Secure Messaging represents significant progress in protecting source anonymity. The Guardian is proud to lead the way? in developing this new technology, working in close collaboration with the University of Cambridge. We have always had confidential processes for sharing digital information and Secure Messaging is a protected way for sources to get in touch – all within the secure environment of the Guardian app.”
Professor Alastair Beresford, head of Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology, says: “News organisations serve a key role in a democracy, providing all of us with independent information about our society, and holding the powerful to account. Protecting the identity of sources is a critical component of what makes investigative journalism safe and effective. We are pleased to collaborate with the Guardian to improve communication security between sources and journalists by using Secure Messaging in their main news app. It’s wonderful to see this technology released as open source software, and we are keen to work with other global news organisations to adopt this.”
Further information about how the Guardian created Secure Messaging, can be found here.
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