Democracy is under attack
It's also under surveillance
Encrypting Democracy is a unique initiative by an Irish cybersecurity startup to help political and humanitarian organizations and individuals safeguard their communications, discussions, and documents from the growing threat of hacking and eavesdropping.
The initiative is being led by Neal O’Farrell, widely recognized as one of the world’s longest serving cybersecurity experts who has been working on secure communications initiatives since the 1980s. And specifically to protect private communications from both criminal hackers and overreaching government surveillance.

Political and humanitarian organizations and their leaders are increasing the target of cyber threats and surveillance, and it’s not just hackers for hire.
In May 2026 it was disclosed that Microsoft had shared with US authorities and politicians the names and communications of Dutch civil servants and researchers drafting the European Union’s Digital Services Act, without redaction, notification, or permission. This is the new normal.
The goal of Encrypting Democracy is to help eliminate most of those threats so that not only are sensitive and private communications and documents protected from hackers and other cyber threats but also protected from lawful and unlawful disclosure by technology providers. Including those pressured by their own governments.
A safe, secure, and convenient meeting space that's as easy as email.
Whether you’re a politically active organization or individual, chances are you’ll be most likely targeted through e-mail or text messaging. That’s why security conscious organizations are moving their most sensitive discussions away from these easily hacked channels.
A DropVault SafeRoom is the secure, private, and confidential place to conduct sensitive meetings and conversations, exchange ideas and documents, vote on important issues, and keep track of any decisions, amendments, or changes. And keep all that away from those who want to target you.
If you’re a qualifying organization or individual you’ll be able to create your own online SafeRoom, with no restrictions on features, and for as long as you like.
HOW A SAFEROOM CAN PROTECT YOU
Protect Private Conversations
Every conversation, internal and external, should be treated as secure, private, and confidential. And by default, meaning it happens automatically so that no one forgets. By bringing those conversations inside your DropVault portal, they’re encrypted automatically and forever. And only you can decrypt them. Yet it’s as easy to use as email.
And even better, your group members don’t have to be DropVault users.
Protect Private Documents
Every document you share on DropVault is automatically encrypted and remains encrypted forever, no matter how long you store it. And only you can decrypt it. If there’s a breach at your organization, your website, your data backup, or a computer or laptop, all files encrypted by DropVault remain safe and secure.
Every Topic, One Conversation
Create a secure discussion channel just for a particular topic, issue, or group. You decide who has access to each group, who can join the conversation, and who can share or view documents and conversations.
Every discussion, message, comment, and document all in one place, all fully encrypted, with tracking and project assignments, and a global view in an instant.
Prevent Phishing Attacks
Phishing is still the first step in most cyber attacks, and most of these attacks involve e-mail. With more than 3 billion phishing emails in circulation every single day it’s easy to see why they can be so devastating. DropVault eliminates the threat of phishing attacks, as well as the data breach and ransomware attacks they can trigger.
Prevent Accidental Leaks
Many of the costliest data breaches have originated from a simple mistake by a careless user, whether it’s oversharing by e-mail, emailing the wrong person, or not protecting a laptop. DropVault can eliminate those errors.
Conduct Private Votes And Polls
DropVault’s voting feature can be used to host formal votes or informal polls, and all the results either securely archived or deleted by date or on demand. Participants in a vote can also be notified and reminded through DropVault, and any results shared privately or publicly.
Automatically Delete Anything
There are always some discussions or documents that you never want making into the public domain, or that have a very specific “useful by” date. DropVault will allow you to permanently delete selected conversations, threads, comments, and documents. For example, DropVault can instantly delete a specific conversation and all attached documents once all invited participants have read, approved, and clicked “OK To Delete.”
Protect Participant Identities
It’s not just about protecting your conversations and documents, but also your people. Whether it’s team members, supporters, or donors, by keeping your contact list within your DropVault SafeRoom, you’re keeping those identities secure and private.
Manage Multiple Projects And Tasks
A built-in task manager will allow you to take any discussion or file upload and turn it into a task with a due date, assigned individual or team, prioritization and more. Our progress tracker gives your team an easy way to view and track these tasks from your dashboard. And our built-in reminders helps to keep your team on schedule and close out tasks and requests.
Keep Track of Everything
DropVault will not only allow you to store and archive all conversations and documents forever, but will also help you to keep track of who accesses those documents, how, and when. And by watermarking and time stamping every document, you’ll always know where they are and who has them.
Add Watermarks And Signatures
Request a sign-off or an eSignature on any discussion or proposal from colleagues or your extended team and quickly view approvals or signatures. DropVault automatically locks the conversation and documents once sign-off is complete. And by watermarking and time-stamping every document, you’ll always know where they are and who has them.
Reduce Legal Exposure
Minimizing your legal exposure in the event of a security incident, privacy failure, or data breach doesn’t require that you prove maximum security. But simply that you went above and beyond the basics, and especially focusing on sensitive conversations and documents. DropVault can give you that protection.
Maximize Privacy And Compliance
Access to sensitive and confidential documents and discussions is restricted to parties to the discussions or to others who are authorized and invited. That helps minimize the risks of accidental or deliberate privacy violations and also helps meet most privacy and data retention compliance requirements.
Multiple Security Layers
Most security fails because it relies on just one or two layers – like a password or a PIN. DropVault was created by veteran security and encryption experts and boasts more than 30 different security and privacy features. So if one security layer ever fails, everything’s still safe and secure.
For Your Eyes Only
You create your encryption keys and only you know what they are. DropVault has no control over the creation of any encryption keys, or access to them, and therefore can never decrypt anything in your SafeRoom or be compelled to provide any access.
No Downloads, Software, or Learning
Your clients don’t have to install or subscribe to DropVault in order to use it. Just send them an e-mail with a link and they’re in. If you want to enhance security, it’s easy to add a password or PIN requirement.
