Tails For Linux

We live in an age where hacker attacks, data breaches, and leaks are somewhat of a regular occurrence.

In short, cybersecurity (on all levels) is nowadays more important than it ever was. The idea of an OS built specifically for this purpose is something quite remarkable, and it's called Tails.

The official description states that "Tails is a portable operating system that protects against surveillance and censorship."

Tails is not a new product and has been around for years. Its creators are anonymous to this day, somewhat appropriate for the project's core concept.

In fact, Tails fully proved its worth and potential when Edward Snowden successfully leaked documents that compromised the NSA.

What else do you need to know about Tails? It's a Linux-based OS (more specifically, Debian-based) that uses Tor technologies to protect your privacy online.

It's a portable/live OS which means it can run directly from a bootable drive such as a USB or a DVD. This means that you can either use Tails as your primary OS, or use it from any typical OS such as Windows, macOS, and Linux distributions, and even load it in a virtual machine.

There are various important aspects that make Tails the security/privacy marvel that it is. Tails is a very lightweight system, meaning it can be installed on practically any computer that's more than 10 years old.

Tails also leaves no traces. Tails always starts from the same clean state. Better yet, everything disappears automatically when you shut it down. This includes websites you visited, files opened or transferred, passwords, and all devices and networks found during its operation.

This is because Tails never actually writes anything to the hard drive of your computer. Instead, it only runs from the RAM memory of your computer.

Everything that you wish to be stored can be encrypted. The feature is called Persistent Storage.

To complete the whole privacy/security-is-everything concept, all apps and services available are configured with safe defaults. This means that apps are blocked automatically if they try to connect to the Internet without Tor.

However, don't think of Tails as being a barebones OS. Some of the most important software included are as follows: Tor Browser (with uBlock included), Thunderbird (for encrypted mails,) KeePassXC (one of the most secure, offline, password managers out there), and OnionShare (to share files over Tor), a cool network manager and L2P network, and many many more.

Tor is a widely renowned privacy service, the best one to this day. Even though Tor doesn't require much introduction, it's important to understand how it works on Tails.

As mentioned before, everything you do on the Internet while using Tails goes through the Tor network, with no exceptions. That said, it's important to understand that while both Tails and Tor are exceptionally safe, they're not miracle workers.

For starters, it's important to understand the limitations of the Tor network. It's also important to protect your identity while using Tails. For example not sharing files with metadata such as date, time, location, and device information.

Last but not least, make sure you don't install Tails on an infected computer (compromised BIOS, firmware, or faulty hardware)

That said, don't rely safely on Tails blindly. You're still very much responsible for your privacy.

To use Tails, simply download the OS and make a bootable USB or DVD. Restart your computer and boot Tails instead of starting your default OS.

Thankfully, Tails provides a remarkably comprehensive Documentation section. It's advisable that you take a few minutes and read carefully how to get started with Tails.

While Tails might not be as prone to "hand-holding" as other OSes, it's not unfriendly towards beginners. After all, it uses Debian as its base.

It's a live/portable OS that you can safely use to protect your anonymity online as it uses Tor for all Internet-related tasks, and it's an "amnesic OS," meaning that it doesn't leave any trace on your computer.

That said, whether you are an activist or journalist trying to protect your privacy while publishing sensitive information, or just as simple user in need of some extra privacy, Tails is definitely right for you.

Just remember that it's not perfect, and you still need to be smart about how you maintain your anonymity.