A secure, decentralized search engine for journalists

Carmela Troncoso, SPRING © 2020 Alain Herzog - An EPFL laboratory has developed DataShare Network, a decentralized search engine paired with a secure messaging system that allows investigative journalists to exchange information securely and anonymously. An scientific article on this subject will be presented during the Usenix Security Symposium which will be held online from August 12 to 14. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which has over 200 members in 70 countries, has broken a number of important stories, particularly ones that expose medical fraud and tax evasion. One of its most famous investigations was the Panama Papers, a trove of millions of documents that revealed the existence of several hundred thousand shell companies whose owners included cultural figures, politicians, businesspeople and sports personalities. To complete an investigation of this size is only possible through international cooperation between journalists. When sharing such sensitive files, however, a leak can jeopardize not only the story's publication, but also the safety of the journalists and sources involved. At the ICIJ's behest, EPFL's Security and Privacy Engineering (SPRING) Lab recently developed DataShare Network, a fully anonymous, decentralized system for searching and exchanging information. A paper about it will be presented during the Usenix Security Symposium, a worldwide reference for specialists, which will be held online from 12 to 14 August. Anonymity at every stage Anonymity is the backbone of the system.