Private Operating System | Hacker News Reader

Private Operating System

7 pointsariatelco12 comments

Does an OS exist that provides a user with a private session. I mean no history, logging or tracking? I'm a journalist working on a sensitive story and need complete safety/secrecy. I already have TOR for internet but was wondering if there is a completely private OS.

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You could try Tails OS [1]. It is specifically designed for anonymity and privacy, and can be booted from a usb stick to avoid leaving any saved state. There is a recent feature summary at [2] and an older, journalism-focussed article at [3].

[1] https://tails.net/

[2] https://dev.to/aniruddhaadak/tails-os-a-security-focused-pri...

[3] https://freedom.press/issues/help-support-the-little-known-p...

I'll just add, it's pretty easy to use

Have you checked out NONOS? It ticks all those boxes. Runs on RAM, written in a "safe" language (RUST), does not log usage and uses encrypted networking. https://nonos.systems/

Qubes

https://www.qubes-os.org/downloads/

Everything is its own VM, you can run apps in secure environments and when you close them it get rid of them.

You can even create networking VM's have that connected to a VPN and then make your other VMs go through it for a secure connection. There is a lot you can do with it for privacy.

Also in windows pro you have windows sandbox, when you close the sandbox everything is deleted. It is a tool lots of people don't know Microsoft offers and it is a sandbox, I use it for testing all the time.

You have to think about the threat model. The OS itself is rarely a problem. It's all the other stuff around it such as apps, browsers, websites, etc...

What is your use case? If you need a private computer to read and write you can setup a desktop with Linux and air-gap it (ZERO connectivity to the outside world, no wi-fi, no internet, nothing). Then transfer specific data in and out of it using a USB stick. That's just one example.

The best private operating system for journalists is the "Olivetti Lettera 22" [1].

* Cross-Platform

* Multi-Language

* Offline

* Room Protection

For extra security, you can use an external data disposal tool [2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivetti_Lettera_22

[2] https://geekyget.com/products/hand-shredder/

Citizen Lab has helped journalists with this very thing!

https://citizenlab.ca/

I think you could use a ubuntu live without persistence on a usb key : everything runs on RAM and is deleted when you turn off the host computer

Sounds risky to potentially lose your work

I think you should to use the fedora linux,in my aspect of view its totally secure and private.

Like Tails OS?

From what I know, most modern devices have hardware backdoors, and most TOR nodes are compromised. If you're working on a sensitive story, you'd likely need to physically remove access to internet, bluetooth or any other signal, and not bring any other devices to that place.

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