Leaks and Hacks: Four Years of DDoSecrets

Presented at A New HOPE (2022), July 23, 2022, 4 p.m. (50 minutes).

Distributed Denial of Secrets has published more than 70 terabytes of data since launching in 2018. The transparency collective formed to capture the data released by hackers and leakers, and to keep documents of historical importance available to journalists and other researchers. DDoSecrets has since become a stable repository for many sorts of archives, despite pushback and censorship. During Russia’s war on Ukraine, hacktivists took a special interest in Putin’s sprawling bureaucracy, exfiltrating reams of records from the erstwhile insular country. With their mission and experience publishing data like Blueleaks, DDoSecrets was well-placed to archive the informational spoils of the cyberwar. They believe that data can only be a part of the story, so they rely on the public to examine their datasets in detail. They have made mistakes along the way. The project is a work in progress. They want their existence to provide inspiration for future leaks publishers, and hope for sources. Come to hear them discuss the strategies that they’ve seen work.

Presenters:

• Lorax B. Horne
  **Lorax B. Horne (@bbhorne)** is a non-binary writer and journalist from Canada, Ecuador, and the United Kingdom. They are a former member of DDoSecrets’ board of advisors, and currently sit on the board of the DDoSecrets non-profit. They work with researchers on how to make the most of the archive.
• Freddy Martinez
  **Freddy Martinez (@twocatsand_docs)** is a hacker and transparency activist with extensive experience in public records gained through FOIA and other sunshine laws. He draws on his experience as a Mozilla/Freedom of the Press Foundation fellow, and is the co-founder of Lucy Parsons Labs.
• Emma Best
  **Emma Best (@NatSecGeek)** is a journalist and transparency advocate who has filed thousands of FOIA requests with government agencies and written hundreds of articles. They co-founded the DDoSecrets collective and work with source submissions and the receipt of data. They are married to fellow collective member Xan North, and raise a kid and two cats together.

Links:

• https://scheduler.hope.net/new-hope/talk/BCJDK3/
• https://infocon.org/cons/2600/A New HOPE (2022)/A New HOPE (2022) Leaks and Hacks Four Years of DDoSecrets.mp4
• https://infocon.org/cons/2600/A New HOPE (2022)/A New HOPE (2022) Leaks and Hacks Four Years of DDoSecrets.srt (subtitles)

Similar Presentations:

• 32C3 (2015) / "I feel like a criminal and I have to be god at the same time": Perceptions of hackers and hacktivists on their (in)securitisation
• DEF CON 18 (2010) / Your ISP and the Government: Best Friends Forever.
• DEF CON 30 (2022) / Leak The Planet: Veritatem cognoscere non pereat mundus