LEAP: The LEAP Encryption Access Project

Abstract

As demonstrated by the recent revelations of Edward Snowden on the extent of pervasive surveillance, one pressing danger is in the vast centralization of unencrypted messages by centralized silos such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Google. Peer-to-peer alternatives for messaging have failed to reach massive uptake amongst users. In response, we argue for a client-service federated model of messaging service providers that provide automatic encryption of messages such as email. We then present the threat model and design of LEAP, which currently provisions opportunistic email encryption combined with a VPN and cross-device synchronization. We also outline how the next steps for LEAP could allow massive deployment of mix networks and be extended to new services such as chat, file-sharing, and social networking.