Article in New York Times about portable USB drive that is used to anonymize your surfing when using your computer or a public computer.
Article starts:In today’s terrorism-conscious world, personal privacy seems to be diminishing. But a specialized flash drive from Stealth Ideas can ensure that your Web travels, at least, remain secret.
DIY
It’s not necessary to buy the drive from this manufacturer. Nearly all the software it comes with (as listed on the manufacturer’s site) is available free via places like PortableApps.com. I’m entering this comment via a Portable Firefox browser tab as we speak, running off an external USB drive.
There is a drawback. If your place of work doesn’t allow applications to run from removable media, none of this will do you any good. I’ve had many patrons who want to do this sort of thing on our patron PCs, and it’s just not possible.
Other options
One of IT’s security fears are those who actually know something about things like security, boot options, and different OSes. You can take a scaled down Linux setup, place it on a flash drive, and reboot a library computer using that. Additionally, a Knoppix CD will also bypass bunches of security restrictions normally in place on public computers.
All you need to do is change the boot options in the BIOS. And before someone says “Well IT should lock down stuff like that,” I already know that. But I also know that it’s not uncommon for IT departments to leave such areas in an insecure state. I’ve been in several libraries and, just for fun, I’ll reboot a computer when I’m done doing whatever and see if I can get into the BIOS. I’ve been foiled once, and that time wasn’t even in a large library.
How cheesy
First off… who designed their website? I love the pictures of the pissed off boss type and the guy who is stealing your identity. Cheesy-rific!
My guess is that this is simply a watered down Damn Small Linux business card, or some other similarly based ‘nix that runs off a Qemu type application. And it is pricey. Heck, you can get a Damn Small USB stick for half that. Or better yet, download it yourself and stick it on a $15 256 MB drive.
The other contender out there is Anonym.OS. Some people have great luck with it, but it does require the reboot of the machine, which will get your butt kicked off the computers if you do it on purpose at my library. I have tried it out myself and didn’t find it terribly useful yet… but it certainly is something with potential.
It’s an interesting product, and I wouldn’t have an issue with it in our machines per se… But we’re a ‘nix house ourselves now, and it would be useless. That being said, I have a gig flash drive running SLAX I plan to use at work on my computer. Not for paranoia reasons… just because I find Windows a pain to navigate.
Re:How cheesy
I have an old linuxcare bootable business card which has been invaluable over the years at helping me restore dead computers. I’ve never used it to bypass network protections but it would be easy enough. But the advantage of USB is the writeability; you can carry your own bookmarks, small apps, security protocols which won’t be burned to an international CD…
Re:Other options
I was six months on the job here before I ran into this. Someone changed the BIOS passwords on a station and made it unbootable. I suddenly had a crash course on computer hardware and the BIOS. Luckily it was just one station and it was fixable.