7 ms·

Tails 1.0 is out

241 points by conductor 12y ago

jafaku 12y ago
Does it make sense to run a Tails Virtualbox VM under a Linux host? (eg: Fedora)
- PostOnce 12y ago
  No, the host isn't read-only, so if you have malware (which can see the VM and what its doing) you're fucked. If you boot into tails, it's read-only.
- Raticide 12y ago
  Only if you trust the host machine 100%. But you can never trust the host machine 100%.
  - opnitro 12y ago
    If you did why would you be using TAILS?
    - willvarfar 12y ago
      For anonymity?
- autodidakto 12y ago
  That's the use case of Whonix. http://whonix.org http://whonix.org
  - egeozcan 12y ago
    Didn't know about this Physical Isolation feature[0] before. Does anyone have any idea how reliable this is? [0]: https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Dev/Build_Documentation/Physical_Isolation/8 https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Dev/Build_Documentation/Physical...
pella 12y ago
more info: "Tails or The Amnesic Incognito Live System is a security-focused Debian-based Linux distribution aimed at preserving privacy and anonymity. It is the next iteration of development on the previous Gentoo-based Incognito Linux distribution. All its outgoing connections are forced to go through Tor, and direct (non-anonymous) connections are blocked. The system is designed to be booted as a live DVD or live USB, and will leave no trace (digital footprint) on the machine unless explicitly told to do so. The Tor Project has provided most of the financial support for development. Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Barton Gellman have each said that Tails was an important tool they used in their work with Edward Snowden" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tails_(operating_system) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tails_(operating_system)
- flip_do 12y ago
  Thanks for posting this! I know I can just google it, but since the link from this item does absolutely nothing to just say what the hell Tails actually is, I probably wouldn't have bothered. Glad you posted this because it's actually good stuff to know about!
- pookieinc 12y ago
  There was an interesting article a while back regarding Tails and Snowden's leak: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails/ This also has some good information about some practical uses of Tails. Not sure much about the claims of the article and their truths (was an entertaining read though), but it gives some further details about Tails for the inquiring mind.
diziet 12y ago
For anyone seriously considering Tails, do invest either in a laptop with a dvd drive and run rails off non writable storage, or use something like a hardware switchable write usb: http://www.amazon.com/Kanguru-Solutions-Flash-Write-Protect-KF3WP-32G/dp/B008OGNMEI/ http://www.amazon.com/Kanguru-Solutions-Flash-Write-Protect-...
- GimbalLock 12y ago
  Could you expound on why?
  - garrettgrimsley 12y ago
    An adversary could modify your image. It's possible that they could have your copy phone home through a non-anonymized route, revealing information about your identity. They could also make it so that your route all information through their nodes, or eavesdrop through a built-in microphone or camera. All sorts of nasty things, all with persistence between boots.
    - GimbalLock 12y ago
      Interesting. Do you mean by physically accessing the USB drive and changing it, or software that waits to modify the USB drive once connected? Thank you!
      - garrettgrimsley 12y ago
        I'm not sure what you are asking exactly. I was talking about using a USB drive as the medium for your Tails Live"CD." The point of Tails is that unless you explicitly take action to make changes or save files, nothing that you do will be persistent across restarts. The memory of the PC you were using is wiped, and the medium on which you store the Tails OS has not been modified. The next time you start Tails you will have a fresh copy. No personal information, no settings that could distinguish you from any other vanilla Tails user. You'll be presented with the same toolkit tailored to privacy and security every time. If an attacker is able to compromise one session it is a problem, but maybe they didn't gather the intelligence they needed to de-anonymize you. Now, if they can make it so that your copy of Tails boots with their exploits already loaded, then there's a major problem.
sirsar 12y ago
The planned update to Wheezy is important because it brings an update to OpenSSL. Updating OpenSSL on Squeeze is time-consuming and buggy, and a later version is required to run several software packages including Bitmessage.
conradev 12y ago
I can't wait for the pending UEFI support[1] so that I can use the official installer for Tails and boot with my Mac. Currently I have to use a custom installer[2] to get it to work. [1] https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/UEFI/ https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/UEFI/ [2] https://github.com/hellais/TAILS-OSX https://github.com/hellais/TAILS-OSX
gnur 12y ago
Please don't start using it as your permanent OS. As soon as you start regular browsing in tails you are overdoing it. Tails is excellent for posting anonymous information to the internet, as long as it is a one time thing. If you first browsed reddit, read your (g)mail or looked at facebook, you are still quite easily identifiable!
sourcex 12y ago
Did Edward Snowden really use it ?
- lucastx 12y ago
  Yes, according to this Wired article: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails/

Tails 1.0 is out

241 points by conductor 12y ago

jafaku 12y ago

Does it make sense to run a Tails Virtualbox VM under a Linux host? (eg: Fedora)

PostOnce 12y ago
No, the host isn't read-only, so if you have malware (which can see the VM and what its doing) you're fucked. If you boot into tails, it's read-only.
Raticide 12y ago
Only if you trust the host machine 100%. But you can never trust the host machine 100%.
- opnitro 12y ago
  If you did why would you be using TAILS?
  - willvarfar 12y ago
    For anonymity?
autodidakto 12y ago
That's the use case of Whonix. http://whonix.org http://whonix.org
- egeozcan 12y ago
  Didn't know about this Physical Isolation feature[0] before. Does anyone have any idea how reliable this is? [0]: https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Dev/Build_Documentation/Physical_Isolation/8 https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Dev/Build_Documentation/Physical...

pella 12y ago

more info: "Tails or The Amnesic Incognito Live System is a security-focused Debian-based Linux distribution aimed at preserving privacy and anonymity. It is the next iteration of development on the previous Gentoo-based Incognito Linux distribution. All its outgoing connections are forced to go through Tor, and direct (non-anonymous) connections are blocked. The system is designed to be booted as a live DVD or live USB, and will leave no trace (digital footprint) on the machine unless explicitly told to do so. The Tor Project has provided most of the financial support for development. Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Barton Gellman have each said that Tails was an important tool they used in their work with Edward Snowden" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tails_(operating_system) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tails_(operating_system)

flip_do 12y ago
Thanks for posting this! I know I can just google it, but since the link from this item does absolutely nothing to just say what the hell Tails actually is, I probably wouldn't have bothered. Glad you posted this because it's actually good stuff to know about!
pookieinc 12y ago
There was an interesting article a while back regarding Tails and Snowden's leak: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails/ This also has some good information about some practical uses of Tails. Not sure much about the claims of the article and their truths (was an entertaining read though), but it gives some further details about Tails for the inquiring mind.

diziet 12y ago

For anyone seriously considering Tails, do invest either in a laptop with a dvd drive and run rails off non writable storage, or use something like a hardware switchable write usb: http://www.amazon.com/Kanguru-Solutions-Flash-Write-Protect-KF3WP-32G/dp/B008OGNMEI/ http://www.amazon.com/Kanguru-Solutions-Flash-Write-Protect-...

GimbalLock 12y ago
Could you expound on why?
- garrettgrimsley 12y ago
  An adversary could modify your image. It's possible that they could have your copy phone home through a non-anonymized route, revealing information about your identity. They could also make it so that your route all information through their nodes, or eavesdrop through a built-in microphone or camera. All sorts of nasty things, all with persistence between boots.
  - GimbalLock 12y ago
    Interesting. Do you mean by physically accessing the USB drive and changing it, or software that waits to modify the USB drive once connected? Thank you!
    - garrettgrimsley 12y ago
      I'm not sure what you are asking exactly. I was talking about using a USB drive as the medium for your Tails Live"CD." The point of Tails is that unless you explicitly take action to make changes or save files, nothing that you do will be persistent across restarts. The memory of the PC you were using is wiped, and the medium on which you store the Tails OS has not been modified. The next time you start Tails you will have a fresh copy. No personal information, no settings that could distinguish you from any other vanilla Tails user. You'll be presented with the same toolkit tailored to privacy and security every time. If an attacker is able to compromise one session it is a problem, but maybe they didn't gather the intelligence they needed to de-anonymize you. Now, if they can make it so that your copy of Tails boots with their exploits already loaded, then there's a major problem.

sirsar 12y ago

The planned update to Wheezy is important because it brings an update to OpenSSL. Updating OpenSSL on Squeeze is time-consuming and buggy, and a later version is required to run several software packages including Bitmessage.

conradev 12y ago

I can't wait for the pending UEFI support[1] so that I can use the official installer for Tails and boot with my Mac. Currently I have to use a custom installer[2] to get it to work. [1] https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/UEFI/ https://tails.boum.org/blueprint/UEFI/ [2] https://github.com/hellais/TAILS-OSX https://github.com/hellais/TAILS-OSX

gnur 12y ago

Please don't start using it as your permanent OS. As soon as you start regular browsing in tails you are overdoing it. Tails is excellent for posting anonymous information to the internet, as long as it is a one time thing. If you first browsed reddit, read your (g)mail or looked at facebook, you are still quite easily identifiable!

sourcex 12y ago

Did Edward Snowden really use it ?

lucastx 12y ago
Yes, according to this Wired article: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails/ http://www.wired.com/2014/04/tails/