Cryptome is an online library and 501(c)(3) private foundation created in 1996 by John Young and Deborah Natsios closed in 2023 and reopened soon afterward. The site collected information about freedom of expression, privacy, cryptography, dual-use technologies, national security, intelligence, and government secrecy.

Cryptome was known for publishing the alleged identities of people associated with the CIA, the Stasi, and the PSIA and British intelligence. Cryptome was one of the early organizers of WikiLeaks and published the alleged internal emails of the WikiLeaks organization. Cryptome republished the already public surveillance disclosures of Edward Snowden and claimed in June 2014 that they would publish all unreleased Snowden documents later that month.

Cryptome has received praise from organizations such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), but has also been the subject of criticism and controversy. WikiLeaks has accused Cryptome of forging emails and some of Cryptome's posted documents have been called an "invitation to terrorists." The website has also been criticized for posting maps and pictures of "dangerous Achilles' heel[s] in the domestic infrastructure," which The New York Times called a "tip off [to] terrorists." ABC News also criticized them for posting information that terrorists could use to plan attacks. They continued to post controversial materials including guides on "how to attack critical infrastructure" in addition to other instructions for illegal hacking "for those without the patience to wait for whistleblowers". Cryptome has also received criticism for its handling of embarrassing and private information.

John Young was born in 1935. He grew up in West Texas where his father worked in the oil field, construction and on a decommissioned Texas POW camp, and Young later served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Germany (1953–1956) and earned degrees in philosophy and architecture from Rice University (1957–1963) and his graduate degree in architecture from Columbia University in 1969. A self-identified radical, he became an activist and helped create community service group Urban Deadline, where his fellow student-activists initially suspected him of being a police spy. Urban Deadline went on to receive citations from the Citizens Union of the City of New York and the New York City Council, and which later evolved into Cryptome. His work earned him a position on the nominating committee for the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design in 1998.

He received citations from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Legal Aid Society. In 1993, he was awarded the Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition. He stated that he didn't "acknowledge the power of the law."

Young died on March 28, 2025, at the age of 89.

Deborah Natsios grew up in CIA safe houses across Europe, Asia and South America reserved for covert CIA station chiefs. She later received her graduate degree in architecture from Princeton University. She has taught architecture and urban design at Columbia University and Parsons The New School for Design, and held seminars at the Pratt Institute and the University of Texas. She is the principal of Natsios Young Architects.

In addition to being co-editor for Cryptome, she is responsible for the associated project Cartome, which was founded in 2011 and posts her original critical art and graphical images and other public resources to document sensitive areas. She additionally holds a degree in mathematics from Smith College. She has given talks at the USENIX Annual Technical Conference and Architectures of Fear: Terrorism and the Future of Urbanism in the West, and written on topics ranging from architectural theory to defenses of Jim Bell and assassination politics. She is a notable critic of Edward Snowden.