This is the operating system Edward Snowden recommends
Snowden's Recommended Operating Systems for Privacy
In this transcript, we learn about two operating systems recommended by Edward Snowden for privacy. The first is Tails, which is designed to be used for specific sensitive tasks and leaves no trace on the machine. The second is Qubes OS, which uses virtualization technology to isolate various programs from each other and sandboxes many system components like networking and storage.
Tails
- Tails is an operating system that can be booted as a live DVD or USB and leaves no trace on the machine.
- It's not intended to replace a fully-featured everyday operating system but rather for specific sensitive tasks.
- All network traffic is automatically routed through the Tor network for anonymous communication.
- Everything the user did disappears once it's shut down.
Qubes OS
- Qubes OS uses virtualization technology to isolate various programs from each other and even sandboxes many system components like networking and storage.
- Every window in Qubes has a certain color to indicate in which domain it runs, fully isolated from other domains.
- Apart from popular Linux distributions like Fedora and Debian, Qubes can also run Windows programs in its virtual machine.
- It looks a bit complicated at first glance, probably lowers system performance because of the virtualization and makes some tasks like copy-pasting between applications more tedious but that is a small trade-off for the security it provides.
Overall, both Tails and Qubes OS are freely available and recommended by top security experts. They are suitable for those looking for private portable operating systems or permanent secure ones.