The HighFire Project (HighFire:Mobile & HighFire:Office)
A Human Rights Communications System
Table of Contents
Abstract:
Development of an extremely easy-to-use secure
communications privacy
system for
human rights NGOs, including:
- A published assessment of NGO privacy needs
based on interviews and a Web-based survey.
- Hardware and software integration using
well-tested, existing
tools
- Software customization based on NGO feedback
- Documentation and tutorial materials
- On-site and Web-based training programs
for NGO administrators and users
- Testing and technical support during the alpha
and beta stages
- Progress reports to NGO participants, funders,
and the public
via the CryptoRights Foundation website.
Project Manager:
Principal Investigators:
[list
of entire development team]
Vision Statement:
At CryptoRights, we ask ourselves daily what kind
of a world we would be
living in if it were too dangerous for human rights workers, aid &
relief
organizations, journalists and other humanitarians to
uncover social injustices, save lives or tell the world the truth.
The unfortunate fact is that the
world is very unsafe for these professionals, and yet, they do their
work anyway... [more]
HighFire Project Description
Problem Statement
Human rights workers, medical aid workers, war
crimes investigators and
field
journalists, are guardians of the public's interests. Because their
work exposes human rights violations, they are challenged by unique
dangers when using mass communication networks. Social justice
professionals collect sensitive information and communicate it over
public networks (e.g. the Internet). They therefore require privacy to
protect their data from interception and tampering and they must be
able to verify the sender and the contents of electronic source
material. The current telecommunications infrastructure (e-mail, phone,
fax, etc.) is extremely insecure and could result in e-mail containing
evidence being intercepted and altered by those responsible for an
atrocity.
Proposed Solution
There are two editions of HighFire which are
designed to meet different needs and are in different stages of
developement.
HighFire:Standard
In order to protect social justice professionals,
CryptoRights is developing HighFire, a communications
privacy system.
The HighFire system consists of hardware, software, training, support
and regular progress report components.
A simplified view of HighFire's operation:
![[IMAGE: Graphic flowchart of HighFire operation]](img/hf_flowchart_diag.gif)
![[IMAGE: caption for above flowchart: Human rights / journalism fieldworker 1) begins communication (e.g. list of witnesses, location of critical evidence); 2) sender's HighFire automatically signs and encrypts (if desired) the data; 3) the information
passes securely across the Internet; 4) the HighFire system of the recipient (HQ-based co-worker, field-based co-worker, or other NGO such as human rights analysts) automatically verifies the signature and
decrypts (if necessary) the data. Note: one login, one password to remember. Also there is backup (insecure) e-mail and voice.]](img/hf_flowchart_caption.gif)
HighFire's hardware consists of two components:
- The "FireBox":
A secure network appliance, placed in high-risk field
offices, which combines robust connection and firewall capabilities
with
"seizable" Web-mail services which are provided independent of any
expensive or unstable Internet connections. [Please see the FireBox
page for more detailed information.]
- The "IceBox":
A secure communication server,
placed in a protected location, which provides mail, distributed
storage
and cryptography services to remote FireBoxes, as well as Web
café,
library terminal or remote LAN users. [Please see the IceBox
page for more detailed information.]
A more
detailed IceBox/FireBox interoperation technical diagram is a also
available.
The
HighFire software
and hardware components will provide privacy protection for information
in transit, and data integrity assurance using digital (cryptographic)
signatures. When deployed, the net effect will be increased security
and
privacy coupled with increased productivity through advanced filtering
which effectively eliminates unsolicited messages.
During the deployment, training and client
services phase,
participating
NGOs will be fully supported in the use of the system through online
and
direct technical assistance as well as through hands-on training at
client
sites during installation. Further support will
then be available by phone or e-mail, through interactive online and
CD-ROM
support tools, and through a training and certification course for
local
administrators. The goal is for the NGO participants to eventually take
over the maintenance of their own systems. Clients will be included in
the future refinement of the tools, and will be kept up to date, in
addition to the funders and general public, through the
publication of project progress reports. The HighFire system hardware
specifications and software will be released to the general public
(including any interested Internet service providers) upon completion
of the project, thus extending the system's improved privacy and
productivity protections to the largest possible public audience.
HighFire:Mobile
Many Human Rights workers have the benefit of always-on internet access
through their field office, internet cafe or mobile laptop
dial-up. HighFire:Mobile is designed to take advantage of this
connection and provide a secure, off-site storage of mail and security
keys on the HighFire mail server known as an IceBox.
HighFire:Mobile is currently undergoing beta-testing by a select group
of human rights organizations. If you would like to join the beta
test, please contact CryptoRights.
If you have an account and are ready to sign in, click here
to be taken to the login screen.
Project Phases Summary
The HighFire development project duration will be
approximately 12
months, Apr. 2003 - Mar. 2004, with continuing support, and ultimately
leading to ongoing production of
post-development systems in 2004 forward. The development cycle
includes
five inter-dependent phases:
CRF is presently in Beta Developement phase of the
project with early
beta trials on-going.
For detailed HighFire development information,
including an examination of the project phases in detail, and a list
of the project team members, please see the Development
Page.
HighFire Subprojects:
HighFire Applications & Versions
HighFire components may be differently configured and "packaged" for specific, varying usage scenarios, and even combined with additional features and softare. At present, there is one variety of specialty deployment under development:
- FamilySafe: Internet Safety Appliance for Homestead Security
Funding:
For detailed information on project
funding and finances, contact highfire-admin@cryptorights.org
If you can contribute to this project, please
contact the project administrator.
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