Tor browser
Many people are familiar with VPNs, or virtual private networks, which act kind of like a tunnel between your device and the internet that can mask where your internet traffic is coming from.
VPNs can be a more private way of accessing the internet, but nevertheless, the VPN company could, in theory, be forced to hand over the information it has about your internet traffic.
“When you use a VPN, the VPN company can see all your traffic, they see where you’re coming from and where you’re going. So, if somebody on the other end of the transaction sees an IP address that belongs to a VPN company, they can submit a subpoena to the VPN company,” Galperin said.
The most secure option, security experts say, is to use Tor browser. It’s a browser that users can download just like Firefox or Safari, but that distributes internet traffic across a global network of different “nodes,” or computers, so that any one user’s traffic could not be accessed from a single access point. With Tor, the websites a user visits are also blocked from viewing that user’s IP address, which could allow them to be identified.
If you’ve used Tor and “someone later sends a warrant to Google asking for all the searches that have been made from your home computer or your logged-in Google browser, they won’t see searches for ‘good journalist to leak to,’” Galperin said.
Many news organizations also have SecureDrop folders, allowing users to share encrypted documents and communications anonymously when using Tor.
Other best practices
Some companies have taken aggressive measures to identify employees who leak information, such as watermarking or tweaking emails so that different employees receive slightly different versions of the same message.
For that reason, security experts encourage people to be cautious about sending exact copies or photos of emails or documents. And any documents printed out could include “printer dots,” invisible tracking codes that can indicate the time, date and location where something was printed.
And keep in mind that violating a non-disclosure agreement or sharing confidential information could expose you to legal risk if you are identified.
Still, Gillmor said it can be a good idea to identify private channels of communication with colleagues or friends.
“Protecting our rights is a team sport,” Gillmor said. “Taking the time to figure out how to do some of these things and helping your friends figure out how to do these things, even if you never end up using them in more drastic ways … is still a positive thing.”