Tails OS – A Linux distro focused on anonymity

From the moment we connect to the Internet, our data is being controlled by all kinds of companies, such as Microsoft, Google, etc. All the pages we visit and everything we search will be associated with our ID. And that information, of course, will be used for commercial purposes. It is almost impossible to connect to the Internet completely anonymously and privately, but we will see an operating system that can help us with this problem called Tails OS or just Tails.

Tails OS is a security focused Debian based Linux distribution whose goal is to preserve privacy and anonymity. All your incoming and outgoing connections are forced to go through Tor and any non-anonymous connection is blocked. The system is designed to boot as a Live DVD or Live USB, and will not leave a fingerprint on the machine unless explicitly instructed to do so. When the computer is turned off, the data in RAM is erased and it is impossible to know that Tails has been used on that computer. Unless, of course, we want to install it on a hard drive or use it as persistent storage.

Tails OS comes by default with the latest version of Tor Browser, Tor’s official browser, which is configured for maximum security and privacy. Also, it comes with cool extensions like Torbutton, HTTPS Everywhere, and NoScript, among others. We can also find other very interesting distros, such as OnionShare, to share files in a totally private way, Pidgin, with OTR, for totally private instant messaging, Aircrack-ng to audit Wi-Fi networks and KeePass to manage our passwords.

It is very important I repeat… VERY IMPORTANT to make sure that we are using the latest version of Tails, and in addition to the fact that the image that we have downloaded is the official one. This means that, if we are concerned about our privacy, we must ensure that we download the latest version available from its website.

Downloading Tails from an unofficial website, or downloading an image from an old version, can seriously put our computer at risk. We do not know if the distro has been modified to include spyware or other malware.

See also:
Which Linux distros offers us high security
Incognito Mode – A form of Privacy

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