Secure Contact

Updated 14th March 2024

This page offers more secure and private ways to contact me.

If you have security concerns, please take a moment to think about what it is that you want to keep private, who might be interested in your message, and whether or not this is an issue for you. I recommend this Surveillance Self Defense guide from The Electronic Frontier Foundation. The Security Scenarios section is a very useful guide for journalists, activists and human rights defenders.

THREEMA

For a very simple, but very secure option, download Threema and send me a message. Threema is a messaging app that you download (like Whatsapp) but the messages are super secure and private. You do not need a phone number to set up a Threema account so it can be more anonymous than the Signal app. You also do not need my phone number to contact me on Threema, just use my ID: 2YN8NH3A

PGP ENCRYPTED EMAIL

The easiest way to send and receive encrypted emails is to set up a Protonmail account. You can then email me at hoskinstansy at protonmail dot com and the message will be end-to-end encrypted. Please note that encryption does not apply if only one of the addresses is a Protonmail account while the other is gmail/hotmail/yahoo etc. (Remember: This option still shows that Person A contacted Person B at a specific date and time.)

SIGNAL

For most circumstances, the best and easiest choice is to install the Signal app onto a mobile phone. Signal is basically like WhatsApp but far more secure. Signal have now made it possible for users to have a username which can be shared instead of a phone number. I have not yet decided if I want to publish my username on the internet but will share it with anyone who needs to talk securely.

ONIONSHARE, ONIONCHAT or VERACRYPT

I am very happy to receive links for OnionShare or OnionChat. You will need to download the Tor browser, but this is an easy system to learn and you can use it to securely send files or create a completely anonymous temporary chat room.

I am also happy to receive VeraCrypt files. These are both options I can assist with if needed.

I can also set up a Matrix/Element account if you would prefer to communicate that way.

What's NOT secure?

Privacy experts do not recommend sending any kind of sensitive information via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter messages, SMS message, or by gmail, hotmail, or another regular email - these options will show that we have been in contact, they can be read by people who you might not want to read them (Google HQ, Twitter staff, governments, police, security services), and they are also stored forever so may come back to bite.