The most anonymous OS?

Discussion in 'privacy technology' started by TheRussian, May 2, 2013.

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  1. TheRussian

    TheRussian Registered Member

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    I became fan of the Compartmentalization method while reading here :)

    So, I'm thinking of having my quite normal windows setup for everyday regular stuff, and one virtual machine for when i need anonymity&privacy.

    I'm thinking the "normal" machine to have just VPN and comodo firewall preventing leaks, and the virtual machine another VPN and TOR. (Open for suggestions about this setup)


    Now the big question is, what OS to use for the virtual machine? It will be used for basic stuff, so any OS will do functionality wise, the focus here is, anonymity, security, privacy.
     
  2. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    For the VM, I recommend Debian. I'm presuaded by adrelanos' arguments in the Whonix documentation.

    The setup that you describe will work well. You could supplement with pfSense VMs for adding additional VPN layers/jumps, or other Tor gateways.
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2013
  3. TheRussian

    TheRussian Registered Member

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    after some research i went with whonix, seems like a great solution for what i need


    will have to look into pfSense now though :)
     
  4. TheRussian

    TheRussian Registered Member

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    Btw does anyone know more about the guy behind Whonix and his motivation?
    Just everything seems to good you know.
    Also has anyone done inspection of the setup and everything?
     
  5. JackmanG

    JackmanG Former Poster

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    What's wrong with using the Tor browser?
     
  6. Andz

    Andz Registered Member

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    What version of Windows?
     
  7. TheRussian

    TheRussian Registered Member

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    Windows 7
     
  8. Andz

    Andz Registered Member

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    Do you like it better than Windows 8?
     
  9. TheRussian

    TheRussian Registered Member

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    I don't know, i haven't used windows 8
     
  10. Electro Gypsy

    Electro Gypsy Registered Member

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  11. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    Does it work also as Live CD ?
     
  12. pajenn

    pajenn Registered Member

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    yes, but you cannot store any data/settings if you run it from DVD or ISO. I found Tails to be a very promising project that worked well for running Tor and erasing usage tracks, but I think it's still very young, currently at version 0.19. I wrote my impressions of it here (post #4).
     
  13. lotuseclat79

    lotuseclat79 Registered Member

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    But, if you have a USB setup for persistence prior to installing the latest version of Tails (now at 0.19), then you can store data/settings in the persistent partition afaik.

    -- Tom
     
  14. Electro Gypsy

    Electro Gypsy Registered Member

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    As explained in the documentation to Tails, installation on writable media defeats its provision

    In fact, I cannot fathom why anyone would want to do it in the first place - Persistency defeats the whole raison d'être of an anonymising OS
     
  15. pajenn

    pajenn Registered Member

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    yes, but the default options of what to store are very limited. you can add paths of what to keep, but then you need a bit more knowledge of where the files, settings, programs, etc. are in linux that you want to retain.

    for example, what path do I need to specify to retain my keyboard layout choice in linux (debian 6)? what about firedox plugins? or programs like truecrypt, jitsi, etc. after I install them?
     
  16. pajenn

    pajenn Registered Member

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    well, it would be nice to customize Tails or whatever anonymising OS you use with your preferred settings, plugins, and programs before you implement the wiping of usage traces on reboots.
     
  17. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    Thank you ! :thumb:
     
  18. Electro Gypsy

    Electro Gypsy Registered Member

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    Thereby creating a hard fingerprint that can be compared with your online one and used to plausibly identify you

    Again, it's antithetical to the whole purpose of an anonymising OS

    In fact, the more extensions, plugins, addons, widgets and doodads you use, the less anonymous you become - They're for privacy, not anonymity
     
  19. lotuseclat79

    lotuseclat79 Registered Member

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    The options of what to store are not limited to a persistent USB partition. By disabling networking, you can then mount any hard drive you have and save any file you have downloaded into RAM provided your hard drive has enough storage. After you have performed the save to hard drive, you aimply umount the hard drive device, and then re-enable networking.

    I simply use the defaults which Tails provides and have no problems.

    -- Tom
     
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