NBC NEWS TIPS
Newsworthy tips shed light on a matter of significant public interest. Do you have a news tip you want to share with our journalists? You can contact them directly by email, or you can send tips to our general newsroom inbox at tips@nbcuni.com.
You can also find ways to communicate more securely below. Keep in mind there are several tools that help protect your anonymity — but none are foolproof. Review each platform’s terms, conditions and instructions, and use them at your own risk.
A good tip is specific, backed up by evidence or documentation, and includes the names of people or organizations whom we can contact to verify the information.
We review all messages we receive but may not respond to all of them. If our reporters have questions, they may reach out to you on the platform where you contacted us.
Signal
Signal is a free app that allows you to send messages or make calls with end-to-end encryption. Signal says that it does not retain any metadata. You can set it up to self-destruct messages automatically after a certain amount of time. You can read Signal’s terms, security and instructions, and download the app on Signal’s website.
+1-646-858-9310
WhatsApp is a free app that allows you to send messages or make calls with end-to-end encryption. It’s owned by Meta (the parent company of Facebook) and retains some data and shares some information with Meta. You can set it up to self-destruct messages automatically after a certain amount of time. You can read about WhatsApp’s terms, security and instructions, and download the app on the WhatsApp website.
+1-646-858-9310
Telegram
Telegram is a free app that offers an option to send messages or make calls with end-to-end encryption. In order to take advantage of this feature, you need to enable a “secret chat.” You can set secret chats up to self-destruct automatically after a certain amount of time. You can read about Telegram’s terms, security and instructions, and download the app on the Telegram website.
+1-646-858-9310
Postal Mail
Postal mail can be sent to the address below. If you are concerned about anonymity, we suggest using a public mailbox rather than a post office and omitting a return address on the outside of the envelope.
Tips
c/o NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY, 10112
SecureDrop
SecureDrop is a secure submission system that allows you to anonymously send tips, documents and media files to news organizations. SecureDrop relies on Tor, software that enables anonymous communication and obscures your computer’s IP address. SecureDrop is a project of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
In order to use SecureDrop:
- Go to a place with a public Internet connection, one that you don't normally frequent.
- Download and install the Tor browser bundle from https://www.torproject.org
- Open the Tor browser and copy this url into the browser address bar: 4cjb3is6fnzgnwadeasmvk4oinukh6wqn2dmaggoz5kf6q3qoa6splid.onion
- From this url, you will be able to send messages and files to a secure dropbox that we will check periodically.
- You will be provided with a codename that you will use to log in to check for replies from NBC News.
- Keep the codename you are provided safe and secure. We will not know your codename, and you should never share it with anyone. If you forget your codename, we will have no other way to contact you.
Nearly all digital communications can leave a trail. NBC News’ SecureDrop is designed to minimize these digital trails using best practices, such as:
- Limiting collection of information logged about your browser, computer or operating system.
- Using Tor to encrypt and anonymize your communications with us.
- Storing submissions in encrypted form on our systems.
- Physically isolating SecureDrop from the rest of our network.
