Is this Service really Safe & Anonymous?
Our anonymous whistle-blowing portal is a platform where sources can create anonymous accounts, submit files and messages, and check back for replies.
Get the Tor Browser
Our anonymous whistle-blowing website is available as a Tor Hidden Service, which is a special type of website with a web address that ends in “.onion” and that is only accessible through Tor.
If there is a chance that downloading the Tor Browser raises suspicion, you have a few alternatives.
Tor is an anonymizing network that makes it difficult for anybody observing the network to associate a user’s identity (e.g. their computer’s IP address) with their activity (e.g. uploading information to our whistleblowing website).
The Tor Browser is a modified version of the Firefox web browser designed to protect your security and anonymity while using Tor.
- The easiest and most secure way to use Tor is to download the Tor Browser from the Tor Project website https://www.torproject.org/download/.
- If you have email that is less likely to be monitored, you can send a mail to gettor@torproject.org and a bot will answer with instructions
- If you routinely use GitHub, you can use it to download the Tor Browser
Choosing the Right Location
We suggest you buy a new USB key and install Tor Browser on the USB Key. There are two main benefits to installing Tor to a USB drive.
First, since it runs off of the USB and not the computer itself, there is literally no trace of Tor or your browsing history present anywhere on the PC.
Secondly, this makes your Tor browser completely portable: simply take it with you and launch from any Windows machine.
Guides on how to install Tor Browser are available online – for example, at the following:
https://www.maketecheasier.com/install-tor-browser-usb-drive/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0knaUdsO3s
Find a busy co-working place or cyber cafe you don’t regularly go to and sit at a place with your back to a wall to avoid cameras capturing information on your screen or keystrokes.
Once you have the Tor Browser, launch it and enter the “.onion” address for the Source Interface of the organization that you wish to submit to. You can find this address on the organization’s Landing Page.
While using the Tor Browser on your personal computer helps hide your activity on the network, it leaves traces (of its own installation) on your local machine.
Open the Tor Browser and navigate to the .onion address for our anonymous whistle-blowing interface.
Follow the prompts. In some cases, some information is required to enable you to submit a report. These should not expose you if you do not submit unique information that is accessible to only you or a small closed group of employees.
When your submission is ready, click Submit. After clicking Submit, a confirmation page should appear, showing that your message and/or documents have been sent successfully. On this page you can make another submission or view responses to your previous messages.
You will then be passed to a page with a passcode on it.
- The best way to protect your passcode is to memorize it.
- If you cannot memorize it right away, we recommend writing it down and keeping it in a safe place at first, and gradually working to memorize it over time.
- Once you have memorized it, you should destroy the written copy.
- It is extremely important that you both remember this code and keep it secret.
After submitting your report, you will need to provide this code to log back in and check for responses and see the progress of actions relating to your report.
You need to be aware about and protect yourself from the following ways in which you anonymity could be compromised.
Environmental factors – physical location and/or his social relationships
If you the office or a cyber which you frequent, you may be exposing yourself to those who know or understand what you actions may mean:
- Access the Tor browser website;
- Down-load the Tor browser; or
- Access the whistle-blowing portal.
If you tell your friends or colleagues about what you intend to do or have done, you will not be able to remain anonymous.
Human negligence
The System Administrator continually fine tunes the security related configurations but cannot protect against any major security threats coming from human negligence.
Even though we provide a HTTPS website, whenever you submit a report on the whistle-blower portal through a normal commercial or open-source browser, you compromise your anonymity.
The way in which you submit your information and the uniqueness of the information you hold may cause you to be identifiable. As much as a possible, use information that is publicly available.
Any information you hold outside of the whistle-blower portal must be encrypted and properly secured. Being found in possession of your reported data may compromise your anonymity.
