Scenarios
Source submission
Anonymous source submits over Tor; app encrypts and stores it.
5 open threats, highest risk 9 high · 30 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Journalist triage
Authenticated journalist browses and downloads encrypted submissions.
4 open threats, highest risk 6 medium · 20 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Transfer & decrypt Legacy (Tails/SVS)
Encrypted submission is carried to the SVS, decrypted and sanitized.
5 open threats, highest risk 8 high · 20 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Publish & export Legacy (Tails/SVS)
Sanitized output leaves the air-gap to the publishing area or print.
4 open threats, highest risk 6 medium · 13 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Admin access
Admin reaches both servers over SSH on authenticated Tor onions.
1 open threat, highest risk 6 medium · 6 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Monitoring & alerting
OSSEC watches the app server; encrypted alerts are mailed to admins.
4 open threats, highest risk 6 medium · 4 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Updates, time & DNS
App server reaches package/time/DNS services via the monitor gateway.
3 open threats, highest risk 9 high · 13 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Source discovery and OPSEC
How a source finds the instance and the pre-submission OPSEC surface.
10 open threats, highest risk 9 high · 34 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Supply chain and dependencies
Source code is built, signed, published, and installed on the servers.
6 open threats, highest risk 9 high · 36 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Workstation lifecycle and backups Legacy (Tails/SVS)
Physical/lifecycle threat surface of the admin and journalist Tails devices.
14 open threats, highest risk 9 high · 34 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Physical and host layer
Host/OS and physical room surface.
11 open threats, highest risk 9 high · 23 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Corporate and legal zone
News-org corporate/personal environment and legal exposure (largely out of scope).
4 open threats, highest risk 2 low · 8 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Workstation: reading submissions
A journalist downloads, decrypts and opens submissions on the SecureDrop Workstation.
25 open threats, highest risk 6 medium · 54 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Workstation: export and print
A journalist exports a submission to a USB drive or prints it.
17 open threats, highest risk 6 medium · 31 threats in all
Data Flow Diagram
Sequence Diagram
Workstation: boot, provisioning and updates
The workstation boots, is provisioned by an administrator, and keeps its VMs updated.
12 open threats, highest risk 9 high · 39 threats in all