Inside the Operating System Edward Snowden Used to Evade the NSA

[liberty2897]

http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails

When NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden first emailed Glenn Greenwald, he insisted on using email encryption software called PGP for all communications. But this month, we learned that Snowden used another technology to keep his communications out of the NSA’s prying eyes. It’s called Tails. And naturally, nobody knows exactly who created it.

Tails is a kind of computer-in-a-box. You install it on a DVD or USB drive, boot up the computer from the drive and, voila, you’re pretty close to anonymous on the internet. At its heart, Tails is a version of the Linux operating system optimized for anonymity. It comes with several privacy and encryption tools, most notably Tor, an application that anonymizes a user’s internet traffic by routing it through a network of computers run by volunteers around the world.

Snowden, Greenwald and their collaborator, documentary film maker Laura Poitras, used it because, by design, Tails doesn’t store any data locally. This makes it virtually immune to malicious software, and prevents someone from performing effective forensics on the computer after the fact. That protects both the journalists, and often more importantly, their sources.

“The installation and verification has a learning curve to make sure it is installed correctly,” Poitras told WIRED by e-mail. “But once the set up is done, I think it is very easy to use.”

More info at the link..

 

[torchbearer]

I'm about to try this one out.

 

[torchbearer]

Now posting from within Tails live cd.
Currently creating a Live USB of Tails.
very nice and quick for a live boot.

You can get it free here: https://tails.boum.org/

 

[torchbearer]

lol at windows xp camouflage mode.

 

[torchbearer]

some more thoughts on Tails as I use it.
It is the fastest live boot OS i've used that has a desktop environment.
faster than Xubuntu, faster than Winki, it seems as fast as debian without desktop environment.
everything is easy to use.

my own failing, i don't remember IRC very well. been 20 years.
and i have trouble setting up a TOR irc connection that uses SASL and SSL.
if i had my own channel, our local activist could be trained to use this OS for all our political activities.

 

[FSP-Rebel]

I just wonder how the different online exchanges and wallets I use would take to seeing me log in from something like this.

 

[torchbearer]

I just wonder how the different online exchanges and wallets I use would take to seeing me log in from something like this.

there is a "more options" option prior to login that give you some options on how invisible you want to be.
you can also turn off tor and turn it back on quickly.
in fact, anytime you elevate privilege or reduce security, i have found an easy button to click somewhere nearby to turn it back on.

you won't appear to be from your location with TOR.
and you have the option of MAC spoofing.

and the way it is set up, you don't have to know what any of that stuff is for it to work for you.
there are some good descriptions with the options.

I won't be using this OS as my primary, but i'm setting it up for communication, so when i need security i quickly boot to USB and get to work.

the only thing i have left to do is set up Pidgin for a more secure exchange

 

[torchbearer]

My email provider warned me that I logged in from

Sign-in details:

Country/region: Netherlands

IP address: 85.17.24.95

Date: 4/16/2014 2:17 PM (CST)

lulz

 

[NorfolkPCSolutions]

Well, this is fantastic. Archiving a copy for when this software is no longer available...