Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: GreatPlainsFarmer on June 18, 2013, 08:04 pm
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I only order by the OZ. so I am not too afraid of every being caught, but I would like to be cautious.
I see a lot of people talking about external hard drives and "tails." I am not a huge computer person, although I did figure out how to use everything on the silk road just fine. So if you have an input on where I should go to learn more about this, or whatever steps you advise I may take, that would be great ;)
Thanks!
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So you are not familiar with security?
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TAILS and Liberté are two linux-based operating systems which you can install onto a USB stick or CD. They're easy to install.
You then boot from the stick or CD, and your PC runs on that operating system instead of the one that you normally use. Both come with Tor enabled by default, plus PGP and a host of other security apps. Then when you switch off, no record is left on your PC that you used them.
They are an excellent way to use Silk Road without leaving any trace on your computer. Unfortunately they don't come with a Bitcoin program so you'd still need to think up a secure way to use BTC.
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you should definitely try out tails, its REALLY EASY to install and everything you need (in my opinion)
just go to the official website from tails and read the documentation! (also, here is a howto thread about installing tails: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=114141.msg775192#msg775192)
And together with tails you can install electrum bitcoin wallet, also very easy to use, here is the howto: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=94939.0
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Personally, I don't see that much extra security from using a live boot. It's annoying to have to drag around copies of everything (passwords, settings, custom scripts etc.)
I mean, if shit goes down, and they have your account info anyways, it wouldn't be that difficult to rubber-hose it outta you. Then they have your online accounts anyways, so whats the point of hardening your home system?
I'm just very careful about things getting stored in cleartext. I try to log as little as possible of damn near everything. I disable privacy invasive software that "phones home" too often, or just more than I think is appropriate.
Very little gets stored/logged whatever on my systems as it stands. I have some tech shit stored in hashed files. Other than that, an adversary wouldn't find much.
Don't put it on there, no one can take it off.
The TAILS thing is a nice concept. I just like being able to keep copies of my torrc file on hand to block known bad nodes/exits. It's a level of paranoia I don't think buying a couple of tabs of acid or a couple lines of blow necessitates.
The BIGGEST security advice I can give you. 1. Get the fuck off Micro$oft anything, yesterday.
2. Get GPG and learn that shit. Encrypt everything.
3. Don't use a smartphone, unless you're very tech savvy, custom romm'd out the yin-yang. These (especially with the recent PRISM leaks) are a known weakness. For fucks sake, it's a roving wifi antennae with GPS, a camera, and a mic. Don't be an idiot. If LEO can use it, they will. Do a Youtube search on "Naked Citizens" documentary for some good privacy knowledge.
4. If using public email servers, encrypt, encrypt, encrypt.
5. Don't talk about SR other places in your life:i.e. don't shit where you eat.
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you can go to the site and download the disc ISO , you will need a program like magic-disc to create a virtual drive and 4gig usb . Make you verify the cd with the key provided at the download site to ensure you are not downloading a corrupted version of tails. Once you have downloaded the ISO and mounted it on virtual cd drive. Download the usb converter (all this is found in the instructions) and mount your cd on the usb , then when you boot your computer boot from usb. If you want to be superbadass and have a old laptop you can remove the harddrive and only access the darknet with that machine. Or just download some decent encryption software and encrypt your hd. The lynx OS have built in encryption. If you figured out tor and PGP tails is easy , just a little different once you are in the program if you are a windows user.
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Thanks guys, helps a lot!
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The TAILS thing is a nice concept. I just like being able to keep copies of my torrc file on hand to block known bad nodes/exits.
Bad exits are blocked automatically by all Tor clients. Blocking other nodes that you "believe" are bad makes your circuit patterns different and fingerprintable. We maximize our anonymity when we all look the same.
I've said it many times before, but I'll say it again. Quit fucking with exclude nodes.
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Why nto install encrypted lubuntu with tor on a VMWARE virtual machine?
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Trust no one.