this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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As someone who does do a lot of embedded work professionally, including custom kernel development and security research, I don't think the developers of the distro really understand what they wish to accomplish. They don't understand the technologies they are working with and how it fits into a good security posture. Let me cherry pick some examples from their website:
Routing your upgrades through Tor seems really silly to me. Your packages are already authenticated using strong cryptography, and if you're concerned about Debian core repositories signing packages with their keys just to target you in particular, use a mirror. There's plenty of them. Debian maintainers won't know what you're downloading, and if you fear the maintainers as part of your threat model, then perhaps a Debian-based distribution that implicitly trusts those maintainers is the wrong choice.
Okay... that seems rather contrived. They don't cite any sources, and I've never heard of this being a security concern.
Woah, "better" encryption! That's a pretty extreme claim without establishing that there's anything wrong with how Linux already generates random numbers, which has been extensively studied and attacked. I'd be way more shy of their tweaks introducing security bugs. Do not get creative with cryptography.
I can't take their work seriously, I'm sorry. It sounds like a lot of hope and not a whole lot of experience.
At that point just install gentoo
Seems to be related to this: https://github.com/Kicksecure/tirdad
Although it looks like it's literally just slightly possible to leak the load on the system. It's hard to pull off, and isn't precise enough to leak anything important.
Appreciate it a lot, thanks. What Distro would you recommend running from a USB?
Beside security concerns about stuff that I don't understand, my only real needs are:
Security is really hard. The most vulnerable part of any computer system is you, the user. Even a 100% secure computer can still be attacked if you can fool the user into approving malicious activity.
I struggle to recommend something specific, but I do recommend arming yourself with knowledge about security, what it means, and what you hope to achieve with it. Use things that have lots of eyes on them that get attention from security experts, such as popular distributions with good reputations. A vanilla Debian system, Ubuntu, or Linux Mint are going to be extremely secure out of the box, but even then I rather have a smart user in front of an unpatched Windows machine with no antivirus than an uneducated user on Tails.
like i said, i tried mint, does not work from that stick, only tails works. what i want to achieve is not much:
I'm sorry but I'm not sure how to help further because I don't know enough about how tails booting is different from how Mint boots.
ok, appreciate your time and insight. thanks!
ah crazy, i made it work with Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS!
For some reason i had to unplug the PC before restarting. Then it got found as UEFI and could boot.
The full installation on the USB was a bit dirty, as i put the Live Ubuntu in a Virtual Machine and installed it from there. So i typed the full disk encryption and login passwords in Windows ... but I wont be too paranoid about that one now π
Look into Windows Fast Startup I think that was the cause. (It will bug you in the future if you want to dual boot linux)