Tails (operating system)
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Tails version 2.3 with Aircrack-ng
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| OS family | Unix-like |
|---|---|
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | Open source |
| Initial release | June 23, 2009 |
| Latest release | 2.4 / June 7, 2016[1] |
| Latest preview | 2.4 release candidate 1 / May 26, 2016[2] |
| Marketing target | Personal computers |
| Platforms | IA-32 |
| Kernel type | Monolithic (Linux) |
| Userland | GNU |
| Default user interface | GNOME 3 |
| License | GPLv3+[3] |
| Preceded by | Incognito |
| Official website | tails |
Tails or The Amnesic Incognito Live System is a security-focused Debian-based Linux distribution aimed at preserving privacy and anonymity.[4] All its outgoing connections are forced to go through Tor,[5] and non-anonymous connections are blocked. The system is designed to be booted as a live DVD or live USB, and will leave no digital footprint on the machine unless explicitly told to do so. The Tor Project has provided financial support for its development.[6]
Contents
History[edit]
Tails was first released on 23 June 2009. It is the next iteration of development on Incognito, a Gentoo-based Linux distribution.[7] The Tor Project has provided financial support for its development.[6] Tails has also received funding from the Debian Project, Mozilla, and the Freedom of the Press Foundation.[8]
Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Barton Gellman have each said that Tails was an important tool they used in their work with National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.[9][10][11]
On 3 July 2014, German public television channel Das Erste reported that the NSA's XKeyscore surveillance system contains definitions that match persons who search for Tails using a search engine or visit the Tails website. A comment in XKeyscore's source code calls Tails "a comsec mechanism advocated by extremists on extremist forums".[12][13]
On 28 December 2014, Der Spiegel published slides from an internal NSA presentation dating to June 2012 in which the NSA deemed Tails on its own as a "major threat" to its mission, and when used in conjunction with other privacy tools such as OTR, Cspace, RedPhone, and TrueCrypt was ranked as "catastrophic," leading to a "near-total loss/lack of insight to target communications, presence..."[14][15]
Bundled software[edit]
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- GNOME desktop
Networking[edit]
- Tor with: Stream isolation, regular, obfs2, obfs3, obfs4, and ScrambleSuit bridges support, the Vidalia graphical frontend.
- NetworkManager for easy network configuration
- Tor Browser, a web browser based on Mozilla Firefox and modified to protect your anonymity with: Torbutton for anonymity and protection against JavaScript, all cookies are treated as session cookies by default; HTTPS Everywhere transparently enables SSL-encrypted connections to a great number of major websites, NoScript to have even more control over JavaScript, AdBlock Plus to remove advertisements.
- Pidgin preconfigured with OTR for end-to-end encrypted instant messaging
- Icedove (Thunderbird) email client with Enigmail for OpenPGP support
- Liferea feed aggregator
- Gobby for collaborative writing of text
- Aircrack-ng for Wi-Fi networks auditing
- I2P, an anonymizing network
- Electrum, an easy-to-use bitcoin client
Encryption and privacy[edit]
- LUKS and GNOME Disks to install and use encrypted storage devices, e.g. for USB sticks
- GnuPG, the GNU implementation of OpenPGP for e-mail and data encryption and signing
- Monkeysign, a tool for OpenPGP key signing and exchange
- PWGen, a strong random password generator
- Shamir's Secret Sharing using gfshare and ssss
- Florence virtual keyboard as a countermeasure against hardware keyloggers
- MAT to anonymize metadata in files
- KeePassX password manager
- GtkHash to calculate checksums
- Keyringer, a command line tool to encrypt secrets shared through Git
- Paperkey a command line tool to back up OpenPGP secret keys on paper
One may choose among a large number of languages when the system is booted.
Release history[edit]
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Legend:
Old version
Latest version
Future release
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| Release history | |||
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| Version | Release date | Notes | |
| 0.2[16] | 23 June 2009[17] | ||
| 0.5[18][third-party source needed] | ? |
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| 1.0[17] | 29 April 2014[16][not in citation given] |
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| 2.0[19] | 26 January 2016[20] |
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| 2.4[21] | 7 June 2016[21] | ||
| 3.0[third-party source needed] | TBA |
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| Version | Release date | Notes | |
See also[edit]
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References[edit]
- ^ a b "Tails 2.4 is out". Tails. 2016-06-07. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
- ^ "Call for testing: 2.4~rc1". 2016-05-26. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
- ^ "Tails 0.11 incognito live system released", The H, 30 Apr 2012, retrieved 12 Aug 2012
- ^ Vervloesem, Koen (27 Apr 2011), "The Amnesic Incognito Live System: A live CD for anonymity", LWN.net, retrieved 12 Aug 2012
- ^ "Anonym im Netz" [Anonymous on the Net], TecChannel (in German), 6 Feb 2012, retrieved 12 Aug 2012
- ^ a b "Finances". Tails. 4 Apr 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
- ^ Gray, James (16 Sep 2011), "The Tails Project's The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails)", Linux Journal, retrieved 12 Aug 2012
- ^ "Tails report for May, 2014". Tails. 14 Jun 2014.
- ^ Timm, Trevor (2 Apr 2014). "Help Support the Little-Known Privacy Tool That Has Been Critical to Journalists Reporting on the NSA". Freedom of the Press Foundation. Retrieved 18 Apr 2014.
- ^ Finley, Klint (14 Apr 2014). "Out in the Open: Inside the Operating System Edward Snowden Used to Evade the NSA". WIRED. Retrieved 18 Apr 2014.
- ^ Condliffe, Jamie (15 Apr 2014). "Try the Super-Secure USB Drive OS That Edward Snowden Insists on Using". Gizmodo. Retrieved 15 Apr 2014.
- ^ Jacob Appelbaum, A. Gibson, J. Goetz, V. Kabisch, L. Kampf, L. Ryge (3 Jul 2014). "NSA targets the privacy-conscious". DasErste.de.
- ^ Bruce Schneier (3 Jul 2014). "NSA Targets Privacy Conscious for Surveillance". Schneier on Security.
- ^ SPIEGEL Staff (28 Dec 2014). "Prying Eyes: Inside the NSA's War on Internet Security". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 23 Jan 2015.
- ^ "Presentation from the SIGDEV Conference 2012 explaining which encryption protocols and techniques can be attacked and which not" (PDF). Der Spiegel. 28 Dec 2014. Retrieved 23 Jan 2015.
- ^ a b c "Tails 1.0 is out". Tails. n.d. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Murphy, David (1 May 2014). "Secure OS Tails Emerges From Beta". PC Magazine. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ a b "version 0.5". Tails. n.d. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ a b Paul, Ian (27 January 2016). "The ultra-secure Tails OS beloved by Edward Snowden gets a major upgrade". PCWorld. IDG. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
- ^ "Tails 2.0 is out". Tails. 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
- ^ a b c Hoffman, Chris (9 June 2016). "Tails, the anonymity-focused Linux distribution with deep Tor integration, reaches version 2.4". PCWorld. IDG. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
External links[edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Amnesic Incognito Live System. |
- Official website
- Tails at Tor project website
- Tails - Known issues
- Tails at DistroWatch
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