Guardian3

Guardian3 is a revolutionary tool, inspired by The Guardian's SecureDrop, that provides an effortless way for sources (whistleblowers) to securely and anonymously communicate with journalists. With the integration of advanced FVM and blockchain technology, Guardian3 guarantees encrypted communication and storage that is secure and easily accessible. Our vision is to empower whistleblowers to safely and anonymously share vital information with journalists, thereby contributing to a better world. Guardian3 also breaks down barriers and simplifies the process of secure communication, making it accessible to a broader audience.

Why us?

• For whistleblowers, blockchain technology provides peace of mind by ensuring anonymity.

• For journalists, accessing documents is incredibly simple with Guardian3. With just an FVM address, a small amount of Filecoin, and possession of our SBT (SoulBound Token), document access is made effortless. Unlike traditional SecureDrops that rely on Tors, Guardian3 eliminates difficulties such as the need to hold a USB drive or navigate a complex registration process. Access to Guardian3 is also open to a larger group of journalists and does not require administrative approval.

• In our service, encrypted documents and communications are stored on-chain permanently and cannot be altered. Whistleblowers can trust the validity of any further investigative reporting by journalists, as the authenticity of the information can be verified through cryptography technology. This ensures the elimination of the risk of false reports and other unwanted outcomes.

Next Step:

• Due to time limitations, currently, we utilized LightHouse API for storage purposes. But we plan to implement our own security protocol to ensure file security and encryption security. Our plan is to use the MarketAPI.sol by FVM to store the encrypted file directly in the Filecoin system.

Something else we want to explore:

• Use Push Protocol SDK to notify users of the latest communication
• Use Huddle1 SDK to enable the live&virtual connection between sources(whistleblowers) and journalists.

Guardian3’s frontend pages are built by Next.js. All web3 integrations and supported by Ethers.js and RainbowKit. Our smart contracts are written by Solidity and deployed/tested on Hyperspace and Wallaby Testnet.

Diving into details, we built our services from four dimensions. It includes:

1). Journalists: Journalists interested in joining Guardian3's list must mint our unique SoulBound Token (SBT) through our smart contract. During the minting process, their name, email, public wallet address, organization, and professional field will be recorded in our guardian3.sol and journalists.sol contracts and stored on-chain. This information is also editable at any time. Additionally, the SBT can be burned by journalists who wish to opt-out of our services.

2). Source (Whistleblowers): In the Guardian3 system, the process for sources (whistleblowers) to communicate with journalists is streamlined and user-friendly, with only two steps involved: 1) Select a journalist from the list on our platform, 2) Upload documents, messages, or files, and set the encryption algorithm, access duration, and count. With these simple steps, the information will be securely encrypted and delivered to the chosen journalist.

3). ReportManagement (Message): In order to let journalists retrieve all documents/messages they will receive, we developed a ReportManagement contract, which will store all the communications on-chain. With getRecToReport() function from ReportManagement, we can retrieve documents/messages based on the given public address from the chain.

3). Document Encryption Protocol: How do we encrypt the documents/messages? Currently, we utilized the LightHouse SDK to realize the document storage. LightHouse SDK allows us to develop a protocol where Source(Whistleblowers) can establish a 1-of-2 multi-sig use target journalist’s public address. Any one of the addresses included in the 1-of-2 multi-sig can access and download the file.