I've been playing around with different Linux distros on live usb sticks. The laptop I use for this is dual booted with a Debian distro and Windosw 10. When booted to a live Linux usb I notice that I can use a file manager to roam around the Windows 10 ntsf partition and get into every folder and file. My question is whether this makes using a live usb inherently unsafe for browsing online. I know that the Linux Live usb stick will revert to original form on shutdown. But those Linux distro .iso images contain old packages, such as older browsers and possibly Flash. Is it possible that when using a live Linux usb to surf the web that I might infect other areas of the laptop, namely something in that ntsf partition, or maybe in the Debian partition?
Yes - very unlikely yet, have you considered: Code: # umount /dev/sdaX Where sdaX is a Windows 10 filesystem you wish unmount (made unavailable).
Yes, I did unmount the ntsf partition through Thunar file manager. So, maybe that is enough. The main reason I'm asking is because I travel a lot and in the event of a hardware or software mishap, I hopefully can bail out with one of several live Linux USB distros. Even going so far as using that for the operating system all the time until I get back to where I have other gear.
I boot from a Live Linux USB every day, and none of my hard drives are mounted except when I purposely mount them. If no hard drives are mounted when your network is enabled, then your hard drives will remain intact - just remember to disable the network before you mount/umount your hard drives for whatever information you wish to use from your hard drive(s) to or from your Desktop or save to your hard drives. -- Tom
If you're looking to use a live Linux session to securely browse the net but don't want to touch the storage of the original install under any circumstances, try looking at the TENS distribution (formally known as Lightweight Portable Security or LPS). Its reason for existence is to create a clean and trusted terminal our of an untrusted computer. To ensure nothing accesses the internal hard drive, drivers for it aren't included in the distro. It also goes the other way as an infected host can't infect the live session (although maybe a BIOS/UEFI infection could get in). Keep in mind the distro is put out by a division of the US Air Force. As for trusting it, I guess that's up to you. I'm not sure if I'd trust it if I was trying to hide my involvement in political dissent, but I think it's a pretty effective tool to prevent getting your banking info swiped by some off shore hacker's keylogger. I should also say I've found it's hardware compatibility to be a little hit or miss. My laptop will only boot with the 1.5.x series or less. A desktop won't boot with the new 1.7.0 version, but was good with 1.6.x and below. My USB internet stick stopped working after the 1.4.x series. Yet they all work fine in a virtual machine.
I clicked the link and got the following: "Your connection is not secure The owner of spi.dod.mil has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website." Why don't they just keep under wraps?
If you dig into the error a little more, it says: "The certificate is not trusted because the issuer certificate is unknown". Basically they self signed their certificate, so if won't be in your browser's certificate chain and therefor you get an error. Who knows why they did that. It's even mentioned in the Wikipedia article though: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Portable_Security If you want a better launching point, start with the distrowatch page (or Wikipedia) and follow the links: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=tens I guess you'd have to ask them. But I think the point was for their service members to be able to download the ISO over a public network, turn an untrusted computer into a trusted one and then access the internal network securely. If it's available on the public network, then it becomes available for everyone.
