Operating systems - Tails
Tails is a privacy focused live operating system based on Debian running from an external storage
device (i.a USB stick, SD card, DVD). A suitable solution for activists, journalist, their sources,
domestic violence survivors and whoever needs extra privacy.
Privacy
Tor network
Users can anonymously access Internet and circumvent censorship with Tor.
A network composed of thousand of volunteer-run nodes worldwide routing Internet traffic by randomly
selecting a circuit between a user and a visited website or service and preventing traffic from both
the source and the endpoint to be viewed by the same entity hence countering network surveillance
and traffic analysis.
Amnesic properties
Users can be sure to not leave any trace of their digital activities on their device as no data is
written into disk.
Persistent storage
Unless they choose to enable persistent storage to save configuration state, newly installed
software or user data.
Limitations
Tor detection
Users worried about local network or internet service provider dectecting their use of Tor should
enable a bridge. However this will not stop visited website from having this information as exit
nodes are public.
Single session use
Users should use Tails for a single purpose at at time and restart it when switching to a new one to
avoid linking the different activities together.
Trusted devices
Users should install Tails from a trusted machine and not use it on one with compromise hardware or
firmware (software providing low-level control and hardware abstraction).
Usability
Preinstalled software
Users may benefit from a ready to use system with the following preinstalled software: the Gnome
desktop environment, the Tor Web Browser, the anonymous file sharing OnionShare, the email client
Thunderbird, the office suite LibreOffice, the image editors GIMP and Inkscape, the audio software
Audacity, the metadata removal tools MetaData Cleaner, mat2, the password manager KeePassXC and many
more.