Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: saintgabriels on December 29, 2012, 08:58 pm
-
My boyfriend has a samsung android tablet (not sure of any specs beyond that). I've been strongly encouraging him to set up pgp to use for every transaction on the road.
We downloaded APG from the play store. He already has orbot and orweb installed and that works just fine. We also installed "fast notepad" to save vendor keys to import just like you would on a desktop.
I use pgp on my laptop and can operate it and other security matters just fine but am having trouble with his apg.
Rundown on the issues if anyone can help. I appreciate it.
-After saving a vendor key on fast notepad, I cannot access the file on apg. ::public keys>import>select file> "error:file not found"
-Renaming the file location on both notepad and the file access name on apg does not work ::both /mnt/sdcard/apg and mnt/sdcard/fastnotepad have been tried as file name locations
-Relocating the vendor key saved on notepad to a different folder does not work either
-When encrypting a message in apg (with his own key as a test), it will copy it to the clipboard, but will not allow it to paste into a silk road message (also as a test)
Also, as a side note, tormail is not accessible. Not sure why, everything else is fine and works wonderfully. Thoughts?
Should he just scrap the tablet for sr/tor/pgp purposes and go buy a laptop? Is it secure and smart to use a tablet for strictly buying (personal amounts, btw) or are we idiots?
P.S. I don't have the tablet in front of me atm, this is just the issues I remember from last night. Annnddd... when I get to 100 posts, everyone that gives some useful advice is getting positive karma :)
-
Also, I did a search on similar topics and this> http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=95973.0 is for a phone, but it pretty much just tells me that using a phone is an idiot move (which I already know)...is there a huge difference or is a phone and a tablet just plain stupid?
Thanks, errbody
-
Also, I did a search on similar topics and this> http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=95973.0 is for a phone, but it pretty much just tells me that using a phone is an idiot move (which I already know)...is there a huge difference or is a phone and a tablet just plain stupid?
Thanks, errbody
From my point of view, neither phones nor tablets are ideal devices to be surfing here. Phones are too easily traceable; both phones and tablets suffer from being new -- I'm sure there are vulnerabilities in IOS/Android that are exploitable. Desktop/laptop computers are much more of a known quantity from a safety/security perspective. Maybe in a few years' time phones and tablets will begin to approach parity with computers from a safety/security standpoint, but it is generally accepted that they are no there now.
NC
-
Also, I did a search on similar topics and this> http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=95973.0 is for a phone, but it pretty much just tells me that using a phone is an idiot move (which I already know)...is there a huge difference or is a phone and a tablet just plain stupid?
Thanks, errbody
From my point of view, neither phones nor tablets are ideal devices to be surfing here. Phones are too easily traceable; both phones and tablets suffer from being new -- I'm sure there are vulnerabilities in IOS/Android that are exploitable. Desktop/laptop computers are much more of a known quantity from a safety/security perspective. Maybe in a few years' time phones and tablets will begin to approach parity with computers from a safety/security standpoint, but it is generally accepted that they are no there now.
NC
That's what I was afraid of. Do you think continuing to attempt success with apg is worth it or no? What are your thoughts on buying a cheap laptop off of craigslist or something? 1+ for you in one more post! Thanks
-
That's what I was afraid of. Do you think continuing to attempt success with apg is worth it or no? What are your thoughts on buying a cheap laptop off of craigslist or something? 1+ for you in one more post! Thanks
Get a netbook or a used laptop. Use full disk encryption. Preferably install Linux on it. Use that for all drug activities. Leave it off when not engaging in drug activities.
If it's a used computer, your hard drive might go at any moment, so make backups of important things like your PGP key to an encrypted thumb drive. Actually, you should do that with any computer, but it's absolutely essential for an older one.
-
Also, I did a search on similar topics and this> http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=95973.0 is for a phone, but it pretty much just tells me that using a phone is an idiot move (which I already know)...is there a huge difference or is a phone and a tablet just plain stupid?
Thanks, errbody
From my point of view, neither phones nor tablets are ideal devices to be surfing here. Phones are too easily traceable; both phones and tablets suffer from being new -- I'm sure there are vulnerabilities in IOS/Android that are exploitable. Desktop/laptop computers are much more of a known quantity from a safety/security perspective. Maybe in a few years' time phones and tablets will begin to approach parity with computers from a safety/security standpoint, but it is generally accepted that they are no there now.
NC
That's what I was afraid of. Do you think continuing to attempt success with apg is worth it or no? What are your thoughts on buying a cheap laptop off of craigslist or something? 1+ for you in one more post! Thanks
Personally, I'd go the laptop route. Another thing to keep in mind is the relatively low number of people using these devices (i.e. phones/tablets) in places like this. I'd wager there's not more than a few dozen people here using phones or tablets. This makes it very hard to get help when you run into a problem, when there is such a small user base to draw upon. On the other hand, virtually everyone on here uses a computer, so when you do run into a problem, there's plenty of people you can call upon for help.
NC
-
Nightcrawler, very good point. I appreciate all of your help. I would think more people (especially the new ones) would be trying to use a tablet. Maybe they are and they aren't even attempting encryption?
Astor, I just recently backed up all of my important things on my personal computer. Thanks for the reminder that I need to back up the important shit!! I have an unused usb stick but I'm not sure if it's going to be enough memory to hold all of tor, pgp, etc. What size do you use? Any good tutorials that you know of to learn how to encrypt the stick itself or at least load all of the info on it? I'm sure a quick internet search would work but...asking you is probably quicker.
Thanks for the replies and help guys. This is my 100th post so happy karma to you both!!
To anyone out there that uses a tablet for sr, feel free to chime in as well :)
-
I have an unused usb stick but I'm not sure if it's going to be enough memory to hold all of tor, pgp, etc. What size do you use? Any good tutorials that you know of to learn how to encrypt the stick itself or at least load all of the info on it?
TrueCrypt is a good option, and actually that will be the next tutorial I write, but I haven't written it yet. :) They have tutorials on their web site, though.
As for the thumb drive size, TBB takes up about 100 MB, and GPG4USB takes up about 20 MB, so any thumb drive of 1 GB or more will be more than enough. If you run the Bitcoin-QT client you would need enough space for the block chain, so at least 8 GB at this point but preferably 32 GB to future proof it. You don't need to run the Bitcoin-QT client though, it's a pain in the ass.
-
Oh sweet, astor. I'll be keeping an eye out for that tutorial and check into truecrypt. I've got an 8gb right now so I just might start on that process.