The Washington Post offers several ways to securely send information and documents to Post journalists. No system is 100% secure, but these tools attempt to create a more secure environment than that provided by normal communication channels. Please review the fine print before using any of these tools so you can choose the best option for your communication needs. In addition to using one of these tools, we recommend that you:
- Use a secure computer to communicate with us—one that does not maintain enterprise software or malware that might be used to record your activities;
- Use an operating system that helps preserve your privacy and anonymity, such as Tails;
- Delete trails of communication that you store on your computer, such as copies of messages or your secure codename assigned when using the service;
- Run any files you send to us through a metadata-scrubbing tool to minimize the risk of unintentionally sending us information embedded in the documents, such as an author’s name
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This is a free, end-to-end encrypted messaging app, which allows you to communicate directly with The Post. You can send text messages, images and video. It also allows you to talk securely with a reporter by calling them via the Signal app. No metadata is retained by Signal. It can be downloaded from the app store. Signal can be configured to delete messages automatically at a designated time interval.
The Post’s Signal phone number: 202-580-5265
This is a free, end-to-end encrypted messaging app, which allows you to communicate directly with The Post. Peerio provides fully encrypted cloud storage for files. You can transfer files to The Post as large as 400 megabytes.
Our Peerio user name: wplockbox
This is a free messaging app with end-to-end encryption that also allows the transfer of documents, photos and videos. WhatsApp can be used to make secure phone calls. It is owned by Facebook. Some data is retained by WhatsApp.
The Post’s WhatsApp phone number: 202-580-5265
This is a secure, desktop messaging app. When used with the OTR (off-the-record) plug-in, it can be used to send encrypted messages. We recommend you also turn off logging for added security. Pidgin also supports encrypted file transfers.
Our Pidgin user name is: wplockbox@jabber.de
*also install OTR plugin
If you use PGP encryption, here is our fingerprint and link to our public key. If you use our public key with a mail encryption plugin, for example Mailvelope or Enigmail, this encrypts the contents of your message but not the subject line or the name of the sender.
Fingerprint: 88D9 812E D074 7AEA EA1E C219 DC81 6CC4 FE3D 535C
Email: lockbox@washpost.com
SecureDrop is an open-source whistleblower submission system that media organizations can use to securely accept documents from and communicate with anonymous sources. SecureDrop submissions are entirely encrypted and do not include any identifying metadata.
You can drop a letter or package in the mail to reporters at The Post. To maintain anonymity, it is recommended that you use a mailbox rather than going into a post office.
Please send to:
News Lockbox
The Washington Post
1301 K St. NW
Washington, DC 20071