Guardian Project (software)

File:Nathan Freitas at Unlike Us.jpg

Guardian Project was founded by Nathan Freitas in 2009 in Brooklyn, NY.{{Twitter|n8fr8/status/334907555853783040|Nathan Freitas Tweet}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LHKMEKJUZw |title=Nathan Freitas on Guardian |author=Nathan Freitas |date=20 March 2009 |publisher=YouTube.com |accessdate=15 May 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/guardian-project-building-mobile-security-dangerous-world |title=Guardian Project: Building Mobile Security for a Dangerous World |author=NANCY SCOLA |date=31 March 2011 |publisher=TechPresident.com |accessdate=15 May 2013 |archive-date=24 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224051259/http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/guardian-project-building-mobile-security-dangerous-world |url-status=dead }} Since it was founded, Guardian Project has developed more than a dozen mobile applications for Android and iOS with over two million downloads and hundreds of thousands of active users. It has also partnered with prominent open source software projects, activists groups, NGOs, commercial partners and news organizations to support their mobile security software capabilities.

In November 2014, "ChatSecure + Orbot" received a top score on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's secure messaging scorecard, along with Cryptocat, TextSecure, "Signal / RedPhone", Silent Phone, and Silent Text.{{cite web | url = https://www.eff.org/secure-messaging-scorecard | publisher = Electronic Frontier Foundation | title = Secure Messaging Scorecard. Which apps and tools actually keep your messages safe? | date = 2014-11-04 | access-date = 2015-01-14 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161115054343/https://www.eff.org/secure-messaging-scorecard | archive-date = 2016-11-15 | url-status = dead }} "Jitsi + Ostel" scored 6 out of 7 points on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's secure messaging scorecard. They lost a point because there has not been a recent independent code audit.

In March 2016, Guardian Project announced a partnership with F-Droid and CopperheadOS with the goal of creating "a solution that can be verifiably trusted from the operating system, through the network and network services, all the way up to the app stores and apps themselves".{{cite web|title=Copperhead, Guardian Project and F-Droid Partner to Build Open, Verifiably Secure Mobile Ecosystem|url=https://guardianproject.info/2016/03/28/copperhead-guardian-project-and-f-droid-partner-to-build-open-verifiably-secure-mobile-ecosystem/}}{{cite web|title=Announcing CopperheadOS Crowdfunding|url=https://copperhead.co/blog/2016/03/29/crowdfunding-partnership-announced}}

Guardian Project has received funding from Google, UC Berkeley with the MacArthur Foundation, Avaaz, Internews, Open Technology Fund, WITNESS, the Knight Foundation, Benetech, ISC Project and Free Press Unlimited.{{Cite web | url=https://guardianproject.info/home/partners/ |title = Partners and Funding}}

Through work on partner projects like the Tor Project, Commotion mesh and StoryMaker, the Project has received indirect funding both from the US State Department (through the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Internet Freedom program) and from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (through HIVOS).

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• Orbot: A Tor client for Android. Tor uses Onion Routing to provide access to network services that may be blocked, censored or monitored, while also protecting the identity of the user requesting those resources.{{cite web |url=https://guardianproject.info/apps/ |title=Secure Mobile Apps |author=Guardian Project |date= |publisher=GuardianProject.info |accessdate=15 July 2015}} Often Orbot is installed with orWall,{{Cite web |url=https://orwall.org/ |title=orWall Official Site |access-date=2018-03-22 |archive-date=2018-09-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903000638/https://orwall.org/ |url-status=dead }} an app which takes the lead on the firewall and then add the required iptables rules for traffic shaping in order to allow Orbot traffic, and force the selected applications to be redirected to the Orbot TransPort. Instead of Orbot, AFWall+, available on F-Droid and Google Play app repository, is an alternative choice recommended for re-routing outbound traffic back through the local Tor port, even with iptables rules,{{Cite web|url=https://guardianproject.info/2017/10/27/no-more-root-features-in-orbot-use-orfox-vpn-instead/|title=No more "Root" features in Orbot... use Orfox & VPN instead! – Guardian Project|website=guardianproject.info|language=en-US|access-date=2018-10-03}} and with a virtual private network like OpenVPN. Finally, NetCipher SDK is the app developed by Guardian Project for users interested in enabling theirs apps working directly with Orbot (and thus with Orfox Tor browser).[https://github.com/guardianproject/netcipher/ Netcipher on github.com] URL Retrieved March 22, 2018
• ObscuraCam: A secure camera app that can obscure, encrypt or destroy pixels within an image. This project is in partnership with WITNESS, a human rights video advocacy and training organization.
• Haven – free and open-source Android security application designed to monitor activity happening around a device using its built-in sensors, and to alert the device owner of such activity. Co-developed with Edward Snowden under the auspices of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.{{Cite magazine | url=https://www.wired.com/story/snowden-haven-app-turns-phone-into-home-security-system/ |title = Snowden-Backed App 'Haven' Turns Your Phone into a Home Security System|magazine = Wired}}

• Orfox: A mobile counterpart of the Tor Browser. Guardian Project announced the stable alpha of Orfox on 30 June 2015. Orfox is built from Fennec (Firefox for Android) code and the Tor Browser code repository, and is given security hardening patches by the Tor Browser development team. Some of the Orfox build work is based on the Fennec; F-Droid project.{{cite web |author=n8fr8 |title=Orfox: Aspiring to bring Tor Browser to Android |publisher=Guardian Project |date=2015-06-30 |url=https://guardianproject.info/2015/06/30/orfox-aspiring-to-bring-tor-browser-to-android/ |accessdate=2015-07-11}} In Orfox, the project removed the WebRTC component, Chromecast connectivity, app permissions to access the camera, microphone, contacts (address book), location data (GPS et al.), and NFC.{{cite web |last=Long |first=Jacob |title=Orfox Is Guardian Project's Latest App For Bringing The Tor Browser Experience To Android, First Alpha Release Is Available |work=Android Police |publisher=Illogical Robot LLC |date=2015-07-01 |url= http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/07/01/orfox-is-the-guardian-projects-latest-app-for-bringing-the-tor-browser-experience-to-android-first-alpha-release-is-available/ |accessdate=2015-07-21}} Orfox was to supersede the Orweb browser project, and has in turn been superseded by the Tor Browser for Android.{{Cite web |date=2019-09-03 |title=Orfox Paved the Way for Tor Browser on Android |url=https://blog.torproject.org/orfox-paved-way-tor-browser-android/ |access-date=2022-03-14 |website=The Tor Project}}
• Orweb: A privacy enhanced web browser that supports proxies. When used with Orbot, Orweb protects against network analysis, blocks cookies, keeps no local browsing history, and disables Flash to keep the user safe.
• Ostel: A tool for having end-to-end encrypted VoIP calls.{{cite web|title=Ostel OSTN|url=https://dev.guardianproject.info/projects/ostn/wiki/Ostel?title=Ostel|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809102229/https://dev.guardianproject.info/projects/ostn/wiki/Ostel?title=Ostel|archive-date=9 August 2017|accessdate=6 September 2014}} This was a public testbed of the Open Secure Telephony Network (OSTN) project, with the goal of promoting the use of free, open protocols, standards and software, to power end-to-end secure voice communications on mobile devices, as well as with desktop computers. This was discontinued in 2017.{{Cite web|title=Ostel.co is permanently offline|url=https://guardianproject.info/2017/08/10/ostel.co-is-permanently-offline/|access-date=2021-12-27|website=Guardian Project|language=en}}
• ChatSecure: An instant messaging application integrated with the Off-the-Record encrypted chat protocol. Formerly called Gibberbot,{{cite web |url=https://guardianproject.info/2013/10/24/chatsecure-v12-provides-comprehensive-security-and-a-whole-new-look/ |title=ChatSecure v12 Provides Comprehensive Mobile Security and a Whole New Look |author=Nathan Freitas |date=24 October 2013 |publisher=GuardianProject.info |accessdate=24 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180907183011/https://guardianproject.info/2013/10/24/chatsecure-v12-provides-comprehensive-security-and-a-whole-new-look/ |archive-date=7 September 2018 |url-status=dead }} the app is built on Google's open-source Talk app and modified to support the Jabber XMPP protocol. This app was discontinued in December 2016 and recommended Conversations app for similar user experience.{{cite web |url=https://chatsecure.org/blog/chatsecure-android-deprecated/ |title=The End of ChatSecure Android| date=16 December 2016 |publisher=ChatSecure}}

Guardian Project offers downloads of its apps from Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Aptoide, directly from their website, and through an F-Droid-compatible repository.{{cite web |url=https://guardianproject.info/2014/06/30/new-official-guardian-project-app-repo-for-fdroid/ |title=New Official Guardian Project app repo for FDroid! |author=Hans-Christoph Steiner |date=30 June 2014 |accessdate=27 July 2014}} Direct downloads are signed and can be verified with the developer's key.{{cite web|url=https://guardianproject.info/home/signing-keys/ |title=Signing Keys |accessdate=19 September 2014 |publisher=Guardian Project}}

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Category:Mobile software

Category:Secure communication

Category:Android (operating system) software

Category:Cryptographic software

Category:Free software projects

Category:Free and open-source Android software

Category:Internet privacy software