New Yorker reveals Aaron Swartz-inspired system to protect sources

News organizations are scrambling to find ways to protect their confidential sources in the digital age as they push back against government attempts to identify whistleblowers. The New Yorker unveiled a nine-step process for sources to send documents and messages to the Condé Nast-owned magazine, saying the system could offer them “a reasonable degree of anonymity”.

Called Strongbox, it involves the use of multiple computers, thumb drives, encryption codes and secure networks. The project was started by Aaron Swartz, the internet activist who committed suicide earlier this year, and Kevin Poulsen of Wired, another of Condé Nast’s magazines. They designed Strongbox using open source software, Mr Thompson said, to encourage developers to be able to continue strengthening its security code. Mr Thompson said the system had been designed to be complex to use, which may deter some sources, but that this was necessary to ensure security. “It takes a lot of steps to make it really hard to hack into this. Hackers are clever people. We’ll see what happens.”