DSL Ideas and Suggestions :: Stealth Surfer
If you know anyone with a SmoothWall firewall, then you can ssh to it and tunnel all your surfing traffic thru it. That's pretty secure, uses 3DES encryption, it's free, and if they have broadband acces it'll be fast.SmoothWall is free also and runs on atticware.
The "F3" referred to above is available when you boot the liveCD or USB install. At the boot prompt you can hit F2 or F3 and see the various boot options. I 'think' it only encrypts the backup file, which you will need a password to use. Since you would be runnign linux, it'll be difficult (at best) for someone to hack you system while surfing the 'net. The file structure of DSL is unlike any other OS, that makes it pretty secure. Also, when looking at the boot options, you can set passwords for 'root' as well. You would want to do that too.
Have fun.
Thanks green, your reply is most helpful. I was unaware of SmoothWall - perhaps it could be added to a DSL USB install. Your points about DSL's inherent security online are appreciated, I'd wondered why the distro includes no firewall.
Let's look at a description of StealthSurfer from their website & try to see what DSL lacks to be a free & open source software alternative solution.
" StealthSurfer is a Windows PC compatible key-sized USB device that is preloaded with Firefox, Anonymizer, RoboForm , and Thunderbird software configured and integrated for optimum privacy. When using StealthSurfer, all your sensitive Internet files such as cookies, internet history, and cache are stored on the StealthSurfer USB device instead of your computer. Should your StealthSurfer fall into unwanted hands, password protection maintains your data's privacy and security. StealthSurfer conceals your web surfing habits, files, and visited web sites from anyone who has physical access to your computer to stop indentity theft. StealthSurfer keeps your surfing information over the NET encrypted, hidden and anonymous - it protects your identity. Passwords are stored on the StealthSurfer with 3DES encryption and with the unique password manager log-on to web sites as easy as 1 touch speed dialing! Advanced and secure E-mail programs[DSL has Sylpheed] are included in StealthSurfer so your portable private e-mail [remains private!]."
Firefox is there, and uses encrypted transfer on https sites by default I believe, but smoothwall would ensure _all_ transfers are encrypted. DSL leaves no tracks on the host computer unless you choose to establish persistent /home & /opt directories, which can be saved on the USB drive instead. Web site passwords likewise can be saved on the pen drive with an encrypted password manager (does Firefox have this?). As pointed out in an earlier post, anonymity can be secured with Firefox extensions and/or a paid proxy service. (What about an onboard proxy that hides you from the get-go?) Secure e-mail like Hushmail and/or disposable web e-mail addresses are easily accessed via bookmarks in Firefox. That leaves password protection & encryption of the entire contents (not just the backup/restore files) as the one thing not already there. I believe some USB drives have password protection on an EPROM chip built-in but I'll have to check on that. Encrytion software like AxCrypt or TrueCrypt available as MyDSL extensions could provide both encrytion of the entire contents (programs & data files) of the USB stick at the end of each session & password protection of same, thus preserving security should you lose your thumbdrive.
So I think its do-able, perhaps on a 512Mb USB drive to allow modest data storage capacity, what do the rest of you think? Sorry for such a long post - but the concept really intrigues me. Big brother got such big ears these years - the better to eavesdrop with! 
You could use a combination of TOR, Privoxy, and PHP which are all available as dsl packages. Also, you are correct that some USB keys can be password encrypted using their internal software. I have a mini-computer that runs off a keydrive with no other drives. Security is provided by pulling the keydrive out when I'm done and taking it with me.
Thanks doobit, we're getting there! I was aware of TOR but I think using multiple chained proxies might slow your surfing to a crawl - and TOR's website points out its experimental software & should not be used to provide strong anonymity. Privoxy looks better (perhaps combined with an online privacy proxy) but it looks to have a steep config. learning curve for a newbie like me, and I could not find it in MyDSL. (btw - that repository is getting big enough to need a search function - whoooo-hoooo!) I'm not sure how PHP would help, perhaps you meant PGP? TrueCrypt seems to provide a more user-friendly interface while providing strong on-the-fly encryption - unfortunately its not in the repos. (yet!)
I really think we can do this, instead of giving our money to StealthSurfer for an inferior, over-priced (IMHO) secure solution.
Just a follow up to my earlier post. Closer inspection of the MyDSL repos. shows Privoxy bundled with TOR and something called Libevent. Also, the testing section shows aespipe.dsl 'strong encrytion in a pipe' so maybe I'm closer than I think!
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