The ExpressVPN Digital Security Lab aims to empower consumers with useful information about their online privacy, security, and rights. We investigate privacy harms, produce actionable reports about security issues, and provide the guidance consumers need to better safeguard their digital lives.
Since launch, we’ve released a report on smartphone location tracking in 450 apps, diagnosed network data leakage that left privacy-conscious consumers vulnerable, and analyzed scam cryptocurrency wallets so that they could be taken down.
Now we’re asking for researchers, consumers, and citizens to contribute to our efforts via a secure info drop. The tips and information you send us might lead to future Digital Security Lab investigations.
We’ve chosen the anonymous OnionShare software for this deployment, allowing users to access a Tor hidden service to send us tips and information:
2iwdkqlb6jsmlcmpp5zih7jd5oeeyomachlujynwjaody5qfmoj3e7id.onion
To view this website, you’ll need to use Tor.
(Alternatively, if you don’t require anonymity, you could send an email to digital-security-lab@expressvpn.com to get in touch.)
OnionShare is a useful tool that avoids the security pitfalls of popular services like Dropbox, as underscored by its creator, Micah Lee, who is also a founder and board member of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
“The thing that makes OnionShare different from anything else is that there are essentially no third parties involved,” Lee says. “If you use Google Drive, Dropbox, WeTransfer, or most other services, you upload files from your computer to the company’s computer, and the person receiving the files downloads them from the company to their own computer. OnionShare is peer-to-peer using Tor onion services, so no third parties can access anything.”
In addition, Lee emphasizes the software’s utility as a tool for collecting anonymous tips and information about security or privacy issues: “OnionShare is great for being able to collect anonymous tips from the public. If you start an OnionShare receive tab, you’ll get an address that people can load in Tor Browser to anonymously upload files to you without leaving any traces behind.”
The secure info drop service is provided by ExpressVPN for the public good and the promotion of privacy and security. Learn more about using OnionShare.
Read more: ExpressVPN’s 4-part whistleblowing guide