This page lists the places where we get our facts. We share it for two reasons. First, so you can check our work. Second, so you can look things up yourself, without trusting a random website.
Everything below is free to use. We link to the real organisation, not to someone writing about it. How we decide which sources to trust most is explained on our Fact-Checking Policy page.
What is a source?
A source is the place a fact comes from. Think of it like asking “How do you know that?” A good source can answer. A bad source cannot.
- We trust most: official records, like court papers, police reports and the rulebooks that technology is built from.
- We use, then double-check: university research and good news sites.
- Never proof on its own: rumours, anonymous posts, dark web link lists, and numbers with no source.
How we use these
- Originals first. The real court paper is better than a news story about that court paper.
- Names, not vague words. We say exactly who said something. We never write “experts say”.
- Dates matter. Facts about online safety go out of date fast. So we note when something was written.
- We point out sellers. If a source is also trying to sell you something, we tell you.
- We open every link before we use it, to make sure it really says what we claim.
Governments and police
These are the best sources for crimes, arrests, closed websites and official warnings. But police news is also written to make the police look good, so we read it carefully.
- CISAThe US government team that protects computers. It posts warnings and alerts.
- CISA Known Exploited VulnerabilitiesThe official list of software weak spots that criminals are using right now.
- FBI IC3Where people in the US report online crime. It also shares a crime report every year.
- US Department of JusticeNews about charges, arrests and closed websites in big online crime cases.
- EuropolThe police agency that helps European countries work together. It reports on big takedowns.
- UK National Cyber Security CentreThe UK team that protects computers. Its advice is clear and written for normal people.
- Australian Cyber Security CentreAustralia’s team that protects computers. It shares warnings and a yearly report.
- ENISAThe European Union team for online safety.
- FTC Consumer AdviceSimple advice from the US government about scams and tricks.
- OFAC Sanctions SearchThe official US list of people, companies and crypto wallets that nobody in the US may do business with.
- CourtListenerFree US court papers. This is where most online crime cases are written down in full.
How technology actually works
When we say a piece of technology does something, we check it here. These are the rulebooks the technology is built from.
- RFC EditorThe official rulebooks for how the internet works.
- National Vulnerability DatabaseThe US government list of known weak spots in software.
- CVE ProgramGives every known software weak spot its own ID number, like a name tag.
- MITRE CWESorts those weak spots into types.
- MITRE ATT&CKThe main list of tricks that attackers use.
- NIST Computer Security Resource CenterThe official US rules for computer safety and secret codes (encryption).
- CERT/CC Vulnerability NotesRecords of software weak spots and how they were reported.
- OWASPFree research on how to keep websites safe.
Privacy and anonymity tools
For anything about Tor or secret codes, we read the makers’ own papers, not what other people say about them.
- The Tor ProjectThe non-profit group that makes Tor Browser.
- Tor SpecificationsThe detailed rulebook for how Tor works.
- Tor SupportCorrect answers to the questions most websites get wrong.
- Tor MetricsReal numbers on how many people use Tor. Great for spotting made-up numbers.
- TailsA whole computer system that runs from a USB stick and leaves no trace behind.
- GnuPGFree software that locks messages and files with secret codes.
- EFF Surveillance Self-DefenseThe clearest free guides on keeping your privacy online.
- Electronic Frontier FoundationA group that fights for people’s rights online, with research and court cases.
University and independent research
Most new discoveries appear here first, often years before the news talks about them.
- arXiv: Cryptography and SecurityFree early research papers. Other scientists have not checked them yet, and we say so when we use them.
- USENIX SecurityA big yearly meeting where experts share serious security research.
- Privacy Enhancing Technologies SymposiumThe main meeting for research on staying anonymous online.
- The Citizen LabA team at the University of Toronto. Famous for catching spy apps used against journalists.
- Berkman Klein CenterHarvard research on how the internet changes the world.
- Oxford Internet InstituteOxford research on how people act online.
- Google ScholarA search tool for finding the original research paper behind a claim.
Censorship and internet shutdowns
- OONIChecks which websites are blocked around the world, with data anyone can see.
- Cloudflare RadarShows how much the internet is being used. Useful for proving a country switched the internet off.
- Freedom on the NetA yearly report on how free the internet is in each country.
- Google Transparency ReportShows how often governments ask Google to remove things.
- Access Now KeepItOnKeeps track of internet shutdowns around the world.
Breaches, malware and crypto
- Have I Been PwnedCheck if your own email was in a data leak. It is free and run by a trusted security expert.
- VirusTotalChecks files and links with many virus scanners at once.
- Blockchain explorersLet anyone follow Bitcoin payments. This is why “money that cannot be traced” is mostly a myth.
- Internet Archive Wayback MachineSaved copies of old web pages. Very important for us, because the pages we write about often get deleted.
News sites we cross-check with
These news sites do their own digging. We use them to find stories and to double-check facts. But we never use them alone. We always try to find the original paper they are talking about.
- KrebsOnSecurity
- BellingcatIt also explains how it finds things out, which is rare and helpful.
- The Record
- ProPublica
What we never treat as proof
- Dark web link lists and “hidden wiki” pages. Nobody checks them, many are fake, and some are illegal to visit. We never link to them.
- Anonymous forum posts. Interesting to read, but never proof of anything.
- Numbers with no date and no source. Like the old dark web numbers that get copied again and again.
- Review sites that get paid when you buy. Their “top 10” lists are really adverts.
- Summaries written by AI. They cannot be checked, and they often make up sources that do not exist.
Know a good source?
Do you run a dataset, write research, or know an official paper we should use? Send it to ehtijadalee@gmail.com. See also our Editorial Policy and Corrections Policy.
More about how DeepHiDX works
- About UsWho we are and what we cover.
- AuthorsWho writes here and how.
- Editorial PolicyHow every article is made.
- Fact-Checking PolicyHow we check facts, numbers and quotes.
- Corrections PolicyWhat happens when we get it wrong.
- Contact UsHow to reach us, safely.