Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal) will reach end of life on May 31, and is now deprecated for use with SecureDrop Application and Monitor Servers. All new SecureDrop installations should use Ubuntu Server 24.04 (Noble).

All current SecureDrop servers should have already received an update triggering the automated upgrade to Ubuntu Noble. The SecureDrop team is continuing to monitor the status of instances known to us and will try to reach out if we notice any problems.

If your SecureDrop system did not upgrade to Ubuntu Noble, please review our Noble Upgrade Guide and contact support for further assistance.

You can check to see if you are using Ubuntu Noble by running the following command on your Application Server and your Monitor Server:

cat /etc/os-release

If you are on Ubuntu Noble, you will see VERSION_ID = “24.04”.

Ubuntu 20.04 will stop receiving security updates on May 31, so your servers must be upgraded before this date.

To ensure the safety of both sources and journalists, the Source Interface will automatically become unavailable after this deadline for servers that remain on Ubuntu Focal.

Thank you for using SecureDrop!