In an effort to shed more light on how we work, The Times is running a series of short posts explaining some of our journalistic practices. Read more from this series here.

At first glance, there’s nothing unusual about the stack of mail on Gabriel Dance’s desk: a handful of envelopes, variously sized, addressed to “Tips” at The New York Times, with no return addresses. (Anonymously submitted letters and documents, after all, have long played a part in The Times’s news gathering, as was seen in our publication of Donald J. Trump’s tax records in October 2016.)

But the cellphone Mr. Dance keeps eying tells the story of an innovative Times initiative: a set of digital channels intended to receive confidential news tips.

As a matter of practice, journalists at The Times have long used digital security measures — encrypted communications and storage — when handling sensitive information. But in December 2016, Mr. Dance, the deputy investigations editor, teamed up with Runa Sandvik, the senior director of information security, to gather a set of tools for readers to anonymously submit information that might be of journalistic interest to The Times.