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 vanillasoulja
Stranger
Registered: 06/02/05
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Last seen: 17 years, 3 months
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 different approach to using your home PC more anonymously 
#4247540 - 06/02/05 10:35 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
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I was dreaming up a new way to use my home pc completely anonymously. Your computer leaves all sorts of tracks of your surfing habits (cached objects, cookies, link history, etc). Also, working on files (word, excel, etc etc) can leave all sorts of traces, even when deleted. There are a ton of products out there that will help you to manage these "paper trails" left on your computer, however, I feel that this whole method of approaching this security is inadequate at most.
I have started using a linux "live CD" or demo CD. The one I use is called Knoppix. It is a self-contained linux (actually BSD) CD that can boot up to a fully functioning desktop where you can surf, chat, order online, work on files, etc. But the best (and most secure) part of this whole deal is that because it boots off a cd-r and runs entirely in memory, and does not write anything to the harddrive (unless you tell it to), when you reboot your PC, everything is dumped. No cookies, browser cache, temporary files, site history. This also reduces the possibility of compromise due to previous spyware or virus infections. You can also boot off the Knoppix cd at a friend/grandma/school/work computer.
One note: this does not reduce anonymity on the internet, because your ip address is still logged, isp's,etc can still log your data (if provided with a court order), etc.
This factor brings me to couple of suggestions for the ultra-paranoid:
1. Boot PC's from a memory-only operating system, like Knoppix live-cd (www.knoppix.org)
2. frequently change pc's/sites, so that ip address tracking, etc is less likely to yield anything against you
3. use gpg (freeware pgp) encryption (built into Knoppix) for secure communications - put your pgp/gpg keyrings on a physically secured, transportable medium (cd-r, flash usb disk, etc) - make sure the medium is secured, and preferrably read-only or write protected
thats all for now... any suggestions to add to this?
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 tak
geo's henchman
 
Registered: 11/20/00
Posts: 3,776
Loc: nowhereland
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Re: different approach to using your home PC more anonymously [Re: vanillasoulja]
#4249238 - 06/02/05 05:16 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
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Awsome post.
These are great idea's. If you could do this on a laptop, and sit outside your local starbucks, or panera bread, or any hotel with WIFI, you would be set. The only thing i could see tracing you then would be your MAC address, but that would require godlike powers, and then if they did find you, like you said, everything would be clean.
I might give this a shot, its also helpful when you use a friends computer or a public computer full of viruses and spyware, you can now surf a million times faster, and not have to worry about keyloggers.
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The DJ's took pills to stay awake and play for seven days.
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1 
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Re: different approach to using your home PC more anonymously [Re: vanillasoulja]
#4250001 - 06/02/05 08:24 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
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Good stuff indeed! I've always wanted to fool around a bit with Linux, and this Knoppix sounds great! Thanks. 
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kronnyQ
SuperstudExtraordinaire
Registered: 07/22/04
Posts: 2,488
Loc: Anytown USA
Last seen: 8 days, 17 hours
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Re: different approach to using your home PC more anonymously [Re: Le_Canard]
#4266793 - 06/07/05 06:01 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
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Do you seriously have to be that worried about information written to your own hard drive? Cmon...if the shit really hits the fan you can just rip out your drive or run a magnet over it.
Friend of mine got busted and the feds didn't even touch his computer.
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automan
blasted chipmunk
Registered: 09/18/03
Posts: 8,272
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Re: different approach to using your home PC more anonymously [Re: vanillasoulja]
#4267534 - 06/07/05 11:46 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
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can you run knoppix with no hard drive at all? like, if you remove the hard drive, does it still function correctly? i played with knoppix, but never tested it without a h/d. seems like if it would work without a h/d, you could use encrypted remote servers as your hard drive and never keep any storage at all.
bu then, i'm not sure how knoppix actually works. if it writes temp files on ur hard drive, i dont think the effort would be worth it.
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No, no, you're not thinking, you're just being logical. ~ Niels Bohr
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: different approach to using your home PC more anonymously [Re: kronnyQ]
#4268515 - 06/07/05 03:07 PM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
kronnyQ said:
Do you seriously have to be that worried about information written to your own hard drive?
Not really. I keep nothing incriminating on my HD and I regularly clean up things like MRU lists, passwords, etc.. I was just interested in fooling around with Linux....
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nonoman
ambassador
Registered: 06/25/04
Posts: 1,326
Loc: the wood
Last seen: 5 years, 11 months
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Re: different approach to using your home PC more anonymously [Re: vanillasoulja]
#4271220 - 06/08/05 10:31 AM (18 years, 10 months ago) |
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Knoppix is great, my personal IT guy showed it to me last year when he built my system.
Never thought of using it for stealth apps, cool post!
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FreedomFight
Strange
Registered: 07/03/05
Posts: 427
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Re: different approach to using your home PC more anonymously [Re: automan]
#4374260 - 07/06/05 12:01 AM (18 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
automan said:
can you run knoppix with no hard drive at all? like, if you remove the hard drive, does it still function correctly? i played with knoppix, but never tested it without a h/d. seems like if it would work without a h/d, you could use encrypted remote servers as your hard drive and never keep any storage at all.
bu then, i'm not sure how knoppix actually works. if it writes temp files on ur hard drive, i dont think the effort would be worth it.
You can use it without the harddrive. It creates a temporary drive which it makes out of your RAM. You could use an offsite drive for information but I trust my personal HD more than I trust anyone else in the world...
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I do not grow anything illegal.
I do not sell anything.
I am, however, a very curious individual.
I also try to be helpful.
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kake
The answer to1984 is 1776.
Registered: 05/06/99
Posts: 2,782
Loc: The 66th harmonic
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Re: different approach to using your home PC more anonymously [Re: FreedomFight]
#4377788 - 07/06/05 09:51 PM (18 years, 9 months ago) |
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another option for those who want to permanently get rid of any trails of data left on unallocated space on the disk (i.e. where deleted file data often remains) get a wipe utility such as this one offered by Webroot (30 day eval, $29.95 to buy) there are other free ones but I just like this one for its basical freespace wiping functionality.
http://www.webroot.com/download/trial/445/wwsetup445.exe.
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The answer to 1984 is 1776.
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fungusamongus
fungus
Registered: 10/06/01
Posts: 131
Loc: The Nations
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Re: different approach to using your home PC more anonymously [Re: kake]
#4390063 - 07/10/05 03:34 PM (18 years, 9 months ago) |
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I play a little with damn small Linux there's an embedded version that runs from a virtual machine inside windows. There's also one that boots from a 64mb or higher pen drive. Knoppix is pretty sweet to.
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