WEBVTT 00:00.750 --> 00:06.690 In the previous sections, we learned how to use a number of programs and a number of services that 00:06.690 --> 00:09.810 help us improve our anonymity and privacy. 00:10.020 --> 00:15.750 We also learned how to access hidden services or online services or what's known as the Darknet. 00:15.750 --> 00:21.390 And we learned how to use some of these services and some of these websites and all of these sections. 00:21.390 --> 00:28.710 We used an operating system called Tails, and as mentioned, this is a live and amnesic operating system 00:28.710 --> 00:33.420 that is based on a fully patched and hardened Linux distro. 00:33.600 --> 00:40.230 It routes all traffic through the Tor network, so it's relatively secure and it's relatively private. 00:40.260 --> 00:46.110 We installed it on a USB stick, so we use the USB stick to boot into it from any computer. 00:46.110 --> 00:52.890 And then as soon as we shut down that computer or pull the USB stick out, everything will be wiped 00:52.890 --> 00:55.800 from that computer and it will remove all traces. 00:56.370 --> 00:58.710 So all in all, it's a pretty nice package. 00:58.710 --> 01:05.220 It's very portable, very convenient, and that's why I chose to use it in all of the previous sections, 01:05.220 --> 01:10.370 because it provides relative security and good privacy and anonymity. 01:10.380 --> 01:17.130 As long as you don't make any opsec mistakes such as logging into an account that is tied to your identity 01:17.130 --> 01:21.720 or interacting with other accounts that can be linked to your real identity. 01:22.230 --> 01:26.700 Now this is all great, but note that I said relative security. 01:26.730 --> 01:29.280 I said that because we can do better. 01:29.370 --> 01:35.520 See, the problem with tails and most operating systems is the fact that everything is running under 01:35.520 --> 01:36.450 one domain. 01:36.540 --> 01:42.810 So if a hacker manages to hack into this computer, whether it's running Thales or any other operating 01:42.810 --> 01:46.020 system, they'll get access to this whole domain. 01:46.020 --> 01:51.810 And first of all, they'll be able to bypass whatever anonymity measures you're using, and they'll 01:51.840 --> 01:54.750 be able to easily de anonymize you. 01:54.870 --> 02:01.410 And they'll also have access to all of your files and be able to control the computer and do anything 02:01.410 --> 02:03.570 that you can do as a user. 02:04.760 --> 02:10.820 So even if you're using the greatest anonymity methods and you're using different proxies and Tor and 02:10.820 --> 02:15.480 VPNs and all of that, if somebody hacks into your computer, it's game over. 02:15.500 --> 02:17.660 All of that can be bypassed easily. 02:17.780 --> 02:23.440 That's why security is very, very important, and that's why it's linked to privacy. 02:23.450 --> 02:26.990 You can't be private or anonymous if you are not secure. 02:27.800 --> 02:34.220 A good solution to this problem that can improve our security is to use different computers for different 02:34.220 --> 02:34.790 tasks. 02:34.790 --> 02:38.510 For example, use one computer for work related tasks. 02:38.510 --> 02:41.420 Use one computer for your personal related stuff. 02:41.420 --> 02:47.180 Use another one for the untrusted stuff whenever you're just browsing through websites and opening attachments 02:47.180 --> 02:47.970 and so on. 02:47.990 --> 02:53.300 Use one computer that is not connected to the Internet to store your passwords and keys. 02:54.360 --> 03:00.180 This way, if somebody manages to hack into one of these computers, they'll only get access to one 03:00.180 --> 03:00.930 computer. 03:00.930 --> 03:06.990 And it will be very difficult for them to move from this computer and compromise the other computers. 03:07.290 --> 03:12.870 Not only that, but the fact that you have an untrusted computer that you don't do any personal or work 03:12.870 --> 03:19.080 stuff on means that this will be the computer that will probably be hacked, not the other ones. 03:19.080 --> 03:25.500 So all of your important stuff in work and personal will not be hacked and the hackers will not be able 03:25.500 --> 03:26.940 to gain access to them. 03:27.510 --> 03:34.200 Also, if you're using a separate identity on this untrusted computer, then your real identity or the 03:34.200 --> 03:38.790 identities that you use on work and personal again will not be compromised. 03:39.240 --> 03:41.480 So this is a really, really good solution. 03:41.490 --> 03:43.840 The only problem is it's not cheap. 03:43.860 --> 03:47.810 You need a number of computers and it's also not easy to achieve. 03:47.820 --> 03:53.070 So imagine having to use a different computer every time you want to do a different task. 03:53.520 --> 04:00.060 You can make this slightly easier and use one computer, but use multiple tails, USB sticks and again, 04:00.060 --> 04:05.340 use each one of them for a separate domain one for work, one for personal work, one for untrusted. 04:05.460 --> 04:12.480 But again, this is not very usable because let's say, for example, you are using the work USB stick 04:12.480 --> 04:17.460 and you open your work email, you're reading an email and there is an attachment and you really want 04:17.460 --> 04:22.410 to open that attachment, but you can't really trust that attachment because it could be anyone. 04:22.410 --> 04:27.060 It could be a hacker pretending to be a friend, or it could be someone who gained access to your friend's 04:27.060 --> 04:27.630 account. 04:28.570 --> 04:34.570 So if you want to follow this model and if you want to be secure, you need to boot into the untrusted 04:34.570 --> 04:38.850 distro or the untrusted USB stick and open the attachment there. 04:38.860 --> 04:45.070 Then once you open it and read it, if it's fine, you need to turn this off, boot back into your work 04:45.070 --> 04:48.820 USB, stick your work domain and then reply to the email. 04:49.000 --> 04:54.640 So you can see that if you're doing this every day, it's not very practical and it's going to become 04:54.640 --> 04:55.960 very, very annoying. 04:56.350 --> 04:59.530 This is where the idea of cubes came from. 04:59.620 --> 05:06.670 Cubes is an operating system that is designed to improve security by compartmentalization. 05:07.660 --> 05:15.010 So as soon as you boot into this operating system, it boots into Xen, which is a hypervisor and then 05:15.010 --> 05:22.510 once the operating system starts, everything inside this operating system is separated into different 05:22.510 --> 05:23.440 domains. 05:23.560 --> 05:29.280 You'll have a domain for work, a domain for personal and untrusted domain and so on. 05:29.290 --> 05:35.290 And each one of these domains is a completely separate virtual machine. 05:35.440 --> 05:41.350 So you can think of these virtual machines like completely separate computers and hence the name Virtual 05:41.350 --> 05:41.970 Machine. 05:41.980 --> 05:49.120 So each one of these virtual machines has its own RAM, its own CPU, its own file system and so on, 05:49.120 --> 05:53.940 and is completely unaware of the other virtual machines. 05:53.950 --> 06:00.310 So just like running different computers, if your untrusted virtual machine or the untrusted domain 06:00.310 --> 06:06.970 gets compromised or hacked, it is very difficult for a hacker to move from there to your work or to 06:06.970 --> 06:08.860 your personal virtual machine. 06:09.920 --> 06:16.040 Not only that, but Cuba's also separate other system components into virtual machines. 06:16.040 --> 06:23.180 So you have your networking, your file system, your USB controller and your firewall all running inside 06:23.180 --> 06:24.650 their own virtual machines. 06:24.650 --> 06:30.980 So if a hacker manages to exploit a vulnerability in any of these components, then only get access 06:30.980 --> 06:37.820 to this isolated virtual machine that is not even aware of the existence of your work and your personal 06:37.820 --> 06:39.230 domains and so on. 06:40.830 --> 06:47.130 And with this you won't need to have multiple computers and you won't need to keep restarting and booting 06:47.130 --> 06:48.930 into different USB sticks. 06:48.930 --> 06:54.930 You'll always be using the same operating system, and the different virtual machines will be running 06:54.930 --> 06:57.750 inside this one single operating system. 06:58.580 --> 07:01.760 Now these nice features come at a price. 07:01.790 --> 07:06.410 Cubes is very resource hungry and has specific requirements. 07:06.440 --> 07:11.780 I'm going to include these requirements in the resources of this lecture, so please go through them 07:11.780 --> 07:13.970 before attempting to install it. 07:14.330 --> 07:16.730 Now, before moving into the next lectures, what? 07:16.730 --> 07:19.670 I'm going to show you how to install cubes and use it. 07:20.270 --> 07:24.370 I know right now you're thinking, do I really need to install cubes? 07:24.380 --> 07:28.410 And the answer really depends on you and your threat model. 07:28.430 --> 07:33.800 With cubes, we're not going to be using any other magical methods to become more anonymous. 07:33.800 --> 07:35.310 So you'll still be using TOR. 07:35.360 --> 07:38.240 You can still use a VPN and multiple proxies. 07:38.240 --> 07:40.680 Nothing that you can't do entails. 07:40.700 --> 07:47.240 The only difference is the added security that cubes allows by compartmentalization. 07:47.690 --> 07:54.800 Therefore, if if someone targets you specifically trying to de anonymize you, they're less likely 07:54.800 --> 08:01.520 to be able to hack into your computer or to gain access to it and therefore d anonymize you. 08:01.730 --> 08:07.190 So Cubes is only more anonymous and more private because it is more secure. 08:07.190 --> 08:13.550 It makes it more difficult to hack into your computer and therefore more difficult to de anonymize you. 08:14.400 --> 08:19.790 So whether you should use cubes or tails really depends on your threat model. 08:19.800 --> 08:26.190 If you think there are people that will actively try to hack into your computer in order to anonymize 08:26.190 --> 08:31.740 you, then obviously cubes is a better solution because it's a more secure operating system. 08:31.920 --> 08:38.550 Other than that, tails is good enough as long as you don't make any opsec mistakes such as communicating 08:38.550 --> 08:41.280 with accounts linked to your identity. 08:41.280 --> 08:48.240 And as long as you use it within one domain so you don't need to use Thales for work personal and for 08:48.240 --> 08:52.920 browsing, you're only using it to access the darknet for research or for other reasons. 08:52.920 --> 08:55.880 Then in that case, Thales can be good enough. 08:55.890 --> 09:01.980 So just like anything else in this course, go through the cube section, understand how it works and 09:01.980 --> 09:03.060 why it's useful. 09:03.060 --> 09:09.450 And at the end, based on your threat model and based on what you want to do, make a decision on what's 09:09.450 --> 09:10.980 best in your case.