Encryption Works: How To Protect Your Privacy in The Age of NSA Surveillance

Encryption Works
How to Protect Your Privacy in

the Age of NSA Surveillance
Micah Lee
Chief Technology Officer
July 2013
Freedom of the Press Foundation 1 / 2 pressfreedomfoundationorg
Dedicated to cypherpunks who write code.
Your skills are needed now more than ever.
Author! Micah Lee
! pu"lication of the "ree#o$ of the Press "oun#ation# 2013
%opyright!
$ncryption %or&s' (o) to Protect *our Pri+acy in the !ge of ,-! -ur+eillance is
licensed under a Creati+e Commons !ttri"ution 30 .nported License
https'//creati+ecommonsorg/licenses/"y/30/
&a'le of %ontents
(ntro#uction 0
&hreat )o#el 0
%rypto Syste$s 1
Software You %an &rust 2
Anony$i*e Your +ocation with &or 3
,ff-the-.ecor# /,&.0 %hat 10
-er+ice Pro+iders and Ja""er 11
OT4 Clients 11
*our 5ey 11
-essions 12
OT4 Fingerprint 6erification 13
Logs 11
1Pretty 2oo# Privacy3 /P2P0 E$ail Encryption 12
5eypairs and 5eyrings 12
Passphrases 17
-oft)are 18
$ncrypting# 9ecrypting# -ignatures 18
P:P ;sn<t Just For $mail 20
;dentity 6erification 21
!ttac&s 23
&ails! &he A$nesic (ncognito +ive Syste$ 20
P:P and $mail in Tails 21
%or&flo) 27
A "ighting %hance 23
Encryption Works
How to Protect Your Privacy in the Age of NSA Surveillance
Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are one of the few things that
you can rely on. Unfortunately, endpoint security is so terrifically weak that NSA can frequently
find ways around it.
Edward Snowden, answering questions live on the Guardian's website
1
The NSA is the biggest, best funded spy ageny the world has ever seen! They spend billions upon
billions of dollars eah year doing everything they an to vauu" up the digital o""uniations of
"ost hu"ans on this planet that have aess to the #nternet and and the phone networ$! And as the
reent reports in the Guardian and %ashington &ost show, even do"esti A"erian o""uniations
are not safe fro" their net!
'efending yourself against the NSA, or any other govern"ent intelligene ageny, is not si"ple, and
it's not so"ething that an be solved (ust by downloading an app! )ut than$s to the dediated wor$ of
ivilian ryptographers and the free and open soure software o""unity, it's still possible to have
privay on the #nternet, and the software to do it is freely available to everyone! This is espeially
i"portant for (ournalists o""uniating with soures online!
&hreat )o#el
The NSA is a powerful adversary! #f you are its diret target, you have to go to great lengths to
o""uniate in private, and even if you're not, billions of innoent #nternet users get aught in the
NSA's dragnet too! *hanging so"e basi software praties ould award you a great deal of privay,
even if it doesn't $eep you seure against targeted atta$s by the +S govern"ent! This paper e,plores
"ethods you an use in both ases!
%hile the tools and advie in this paper are ai"ed at proteting your privay fro" the NSA's olletion
"ethods, the sa"e advie an be used to inrease your o"puter seurity against any adversary! #t's
i"portant to re"e"ber that other govern"ents, inluding *hina and -ussia, spend "assive a"ounts of
"oney of their own high.teh surveillane equip"ent and are $nown to speifially target (ournalists
and soures! #n the +S, bad digital seurity an ost whistleblowers their freedo", but in other
ountries it an ost both (ournalists and soures their lives! A reent e,a"ple fro" Syria
/
illustrates
how areless digital seurity an have tragi results!
1 Edward Snowden0 NSA whistleblower answers reader questions,
http011www!guardian!o!u$1world1/2131(un1141edward.snowden.nsa.files.whistleblower
/ The spy who a"e in fro" the ode, http011www!(r!org1feature1the5spy5who5a"e5in5fro"5the5!php6page7all
%rypto Syste$s
We discoered something. !ur one hope against total domination. A hope that with courage,
insight and solidarity we could use to resist. A strange property of the physical unierse that we
lie in.
"he unierse #eliees in encryption.
$t is easier to encrypt information than it is to decrypt it.
8 9ulian Assange, in the introdution of *ypherpun$s0 :reedo" and the :uture of the #nternet
Enryption is the proess of ta$ing a plainte,t "essage and a rando"ly generated $ey and doing
"athe"atial operations with the two until all that's left is a sra"bled, ipherte,t version of the
"essage! 'eryption is ta$ing the ipherte,t and the right $ey and doing "ore "athe"atial operations
until the plainte,t is reovered! This field is alled ryptography, or rypto for short! A rypto
algorith", what "athe"atial operations to do and how to do the", is alled a ipher!
To enrypt so"ething you need the right $ey, and you need the right $ey to derypt it too! #f the rypto
software is i"ple"ented properly, if the "ath is sound, and if the $eys are seure, all of the o"bined
o"puting power on Earth annot brea$ this enryption!
%e build rypto syste"s that depend on proble"s in "athe"atis that we believe to be hard, suh as
the diffiulty in fatoring large nu"bers! +nless there are "athe"atial brea$throughs that "a$e these
proble"s easier8and the NSA is $eeping the" seret fro" the rest of the world8brea$ing rypto that
relies on the" for seurity is unfeasible!
The design of rypto syste"s and iphers should be o"pletely publi! The only way to ensure that the
ipher itself doesn't have a ritial flaw is to publish how it wor$s, to have "any eyes srutini;ing it in
detail, and to let it weather real.world atta$s in the wild to wor$ out the bugs! The inner wor$ings of
"ost rypto that we use on a daily basis, li$e <TT&S
3
, the tehnology that "a$es it possible to safely
type redit ard nu"bers and passwords into website for"s, is o"pletely publi! An atta$er that
$nows every single detail about how the enryption wor$s should still fail to brea$ the enryption
without possessing the $ey! *rypto that is proprietary, and its underlying ode seret, annot be trusted
to be seure!
<ere's an i"portant question to as$ when assessing if a servie or app that uses enryption is seure0 #s
it possible for the servie provider itself to iru"vent the enryption6 #f so, you annot trust the
seurity of the servie! =any servies li$e S$ype
>
and <ush"ail
?
pro"ise @end.to.end@ enryption, but
often ti"es it still "eans that the servies the"selves have the $eys to derypt the produt! True end.to.
end enryption "eans that the servie provider annot loo$ at your o""uniations even if they
wanted to!
3 <TT& Seure, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1<ttps
> Thin$ your S$ype "essages get end.to.end enryption6 Thin$ again, http011arstehnia!o"1seurity1/21312?1thin$.
your.s$ype."essages.get.end.to.end.enryption.thin$.again1
? <ush"ail To %arn +sers of Aaw Enfore"ent )a$door, http011www!wired!o"1threatlevel1/2241111hush"ail.to.war1
Another i"portant fat to $now about enryption is that it's about "uh "ore than proteting the
privay of o""uniations! #t an be used to @digitally sign@ "essages in a way that proves that the
"essage originated fro" the person you e,peted it to! #t an be used to build digital urrenies li$e
)itoin, and it an be used to build anony"ity networ$s li$e Tor!
Enryption an also be used to prevent people fro" installing i&hone apps that didn't o"e fro" the
App Store, to prevent people fro" reording "ovies diretly fro" Netfli,, and to prevent people fro"
installing Ainu, on a %indows B tablet! And it an also be used to prevent "an.in.the."iddle
C
D=#T=E
atta$ers fro" adding "alware to otherwise legiti"ate software updates!
#n short, enryption eno"passes a whole host of uses, but here we are foused on how we an use it to
seurely and privately o""uniate!
Software You %an &rust
%hen Snowden uses the ter" @endpoint seurity@ he "eans the seurity of the o"puters on either end
of the onversation that are doing the enrypting and the derypting, as opposed to the seurity of the
"essage when itFs in transit! #f you send an enrypted e"ail to a friend but you have a $eylogger on
your o"puter that's logging the entire "essage, as well as the passphrase that's proteting your
enryption $eys, your enryption isn't worth very "uh!
Sine :reedo" of the &ress :oundation board "e"bers Glenn Greenwald and Aaura &oitras bro$e the
NSA dragnet surveillane stories, a lot "ore infor"ation about +S spy agenies has been "ade publi!
Speifially, )loo"berg wrote about voluntary infor"ation sharing progra"s between +S o"panies
and +S spy agenies
4
!
So far the "ost sho$ing revelation about these infor"ation sharing progra"s is that =irosoft has a
poliy of giving infor"ation about vulnerabilities in its software to the +S govern"ent before it
releases seurity updates to the publi! The artile says0
%icrosoft &orp. '%S("), the world*s largest software company, proides intelligence agencies
with information a#out #ugs in its popular software #efore it pu#licly releases a fi+, according
to two people familiar with the process. "hat information can #e used to protect goernment
computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes.
This "eans that it's li$ely that NSA has been handed the $eys to any o"puter running %indows,
Gffie, S$ype, or other =irosoft software! #f you're running this software on your o"puter, it's li$ely
that, with enough effort, the NSA ould o"pro"ise your o"puter, and thus your enrypted
o""uniations, if you bea"e a target!
%e've also learned fro" the New Hor$ Ti"es
B
that S$ype, software that outside the seurity o""unity
C =an.in.the."iddle atta$, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1=an.in.the."iddle5atta$
4 +!S! Agenies Said to Swap 'ata %ith Thousands of :ir"s, http011www!bloo"berg!o"1news1/213.2C.1>1u.s.
agenies.said.to.swap.data.with.thousands.of.fir"s!ht"l
B %eb's -eah )inds N!S!A! and Silion Ialley Aeaders, http011www!nyti"es!o"1/21312C1/21tehnology1silion.valley.
has long had a reputation of being a seure way to o""uniate, has been feeding private
onversations to the +S govern"ent for the last five years!
Skype, the $nternet,#ased calling serice, #egan its own secret program, Pro-ect &hess, to
e+plore the legal and technical issues in making Skype calls readily aaila#le to intelligence
agencies and law enforcement officials, according to people #riefed on the program who asked
not to #e named to aoid trou#le with the intelligence agencies.
Pro-ect &hess, which has neer #een preiously disclosed, was small, limited to fewer than a
do.en people inside Skype, and was deeloped as the company had sometimes contentious talks
with the goernment oer legal issues, said one of the people #riefed on the pro-ect. "he pro-ect
#egan a#out fie years ago, #efore most of the company was sold #y its parent, e/ay, to outside
inestors in 0112. %icrosoft acquired Skype in an 34.5 #illion deal that was completed in
!cto#er 0166.
A Skype e+ecutie denied last year in a #log post that recent changes in the way Skype operated
were made at the #ehest of %icrosoft to make snooping easier for law enforcement. $t appears,
howeer, that Skype figured out how to cooperate with the intelligence community #efore
%icrosoft took oer the company, according to documents leaked #y Edward 7. Snowden, a
former contractor for the N.S.A. !ne of the documents a#out the Prism program made pu#lic
#y %r. Snowden says Skype -oined Prism on (e#. 8, 0166.
&roprietary software, suh as "uh of what's released by =irosoft, Apple, and Google, has another
flaw! #t's "uh "ore diffiult for users to independently verify that seret ba$doors don't e,ist at the
landestine de"ands of the surveillane state! Though reent reports have shown that "any o"panies
hand over an un$nown a"ount of infor"ation in response to :#SA requests, none have been shown to
have diret ba$doors into their syste"s!
There is other software that's "ore reliable in this regard! :ree and open soure software
J
is not always
user friendly and it's not always seure! <owever when it's developed in the open, with open bug
tra$ers, open "ailing lists, open governing strutures, and open soure ode, it's "uh "ore diffiult
for these pro(ets to have a poliy of betraying their users li$e =irosoft has!
GN+1Ainu, is an operating syste" that's o"posed entirely of free and open soure software!
E,a"ples of GN+1Ainu, distributions inlude +buntu
12
, 'ebian
11
, and :edora *ore
1/
! #t's the "ost
popular free software alternative to %indows and =a GS K!
%hile free software pro(ets still "ight inlude "aliious ode Dsee the +nderhanded * *ontest
13
E, the
person writing the ode needs to hide it leverly and hope none of the other developers, or downstrea"
GN+1Ainu, pa$age "aintainers who prepare and o"pile the soure ode of pro(ets to inlude in
their distributions, notie!
and.spy.ageny.bound.by.strengthening.web!ht"l
J :ree Software :oundation, https011www!fsf!org1about1what.is.free.software
12 +buntu, http011www!ubuntu!o"1
11 'ebian, http011www!debian!org1
1/ :edora *ore, https011fedorapro(et!org1
13 The +nderhanded * *ontest, http011underhanded!,ott!o"1
#n the 1JJ2s, when ivilian ryptography was beo"ing popular and the +S govern"ent was doing
everything they ould to prevent it
1>
, the @ypherpun$@ "ove"ent was born! =any piees of software
intended to bring enryption to the people grew out of that "ove"ent!
&ypherpunks write code. We know that someone has to write software to defend priacy, and
since we can*t get priacy unless we all do, we*re going to write it. We pu#lish our code so that
our fellow &ypherpunks may practice and play with it. !ur code is free for all to use,
worldwide. We don*t much care if you don*t approe of the software we write. We know that
software can*t #e destroyed and that a widely dispersed system can*t #e shut down.
8 Eri <ughes, in his 1JJ3 *ypherpun$ =anifesto
That ode, that's open and publi so that fellow ypherpun$s "ay pratie and play with it, whih
anyone in the world an freely use, "a$es the basis of the software and protools that we an trust0
TAS Dthe enryption that powers <TT&SE, A+LS Ddis$ enryption
1?
built.in to GN+1Ainu,E, Gpen&G&,
Gff.the.-eord, and Tor!
The Tatial Tehnology *olletive
1C
has built a great guide to open soure seurity software that you
an trust
14
to $eep your o""uniations private fro" surveillane! #t's i"portant to re"e"ber that (ust
using this software, and even using it perfetly, annot guarantee the seurity of your rypto! :or
e,a"ple, we have no idea if Apple has handed over ;ero day vulnerabilities to the NSA for iGS li$e
=irosoft is reported to have done! *hatSeure, whih lets you have enrypted hat onversations on
iGS devies, is only as seure as the operating syste" that it's running on!
#t's i"portant to re"e"ber that (ust beause you use free software doesn't "ean you an't get ha$ed!
&eople find ;ero day
1B
e,ploits for free software all the ti"e, and so"eti"es sell the" to govern"ents
and other "aliious atta$ers! :ree software users still download "aliious attah"ents in their e"ail,
and they still often have badly onfigured and easily e,ploited servies on their o"puters! And even
worse, "alware is often very good at hiding! #f a free software user gets "alware on their o"puter, it
"ight stay there until the user for"ats their hard drive!
Tails, whih is a live 'I' and live +S) GN+1Ainu, distribution that # will disuss in detail below,
solves "any of these proble"s!
1> See &hil Mi""er"ann's ri"inal investigation, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1&hil5Mi""er"annN*ri"inal5investigation
and *lipper hip, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1*lipper5hip
1? 'is$ enryption, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1'is$5enryption
1C Tatial Tehnology *olletive, https011tatialteh!org1
14 %orried about surveillane online6 A olletion of our tips and how to's on alternatives,
https011alternatives!tatialteh!org1
1B Mero.day atta$, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1Mero.'ay5Atta$
Anony$i*e Your +ocation with &or
Tor
1J
is a software servie that allows you to use the #nternet while onealing your #& address, whih
is, in general, a fairly aurate representation of your loation! The Tor networ$ is "ade up of over
3,C22 volunteer servers alled nodes! %hen so"eone uses the Tor networ$ to visit a website their
onnetion gets bouned through three of these nodes Dalled a iruitE before finally e,iting into the
nor"al #nternet! Anyone interepting traffi will thin$ your loation is the final node whih your traffi
e,its fro"!
#t's i"portant to re"e"ber that (ust beause your onnetion to the #nternet "ay be anony"ous that
doesn't "agially "a$e it seure! E:: has "ade a great visuali;ation
/2
of how Tor and <TT&S an
wor$ together to protet your privay!
Ai$e all good ryptography software, Tor is free software, o"plete with an open bug tra$er, "ailing
lists, and soure ode
/1
!
'ou"entation for Tails, the live GN+1Ainu, distribution that fores all of the user's networ$ traffi to
go through the Tor networ$, has this to say about global adversaries
//
0
A glo#al passie adersary would #e a person or an entity a#le to monitor at the same time the
traffic #etween all the computers in a network. /y studying, for e+ample, the timing and olume
patterns of the different communications across the network, it would #e statistically possi#le to
identify "or circuits and thus matching "or users and destination serers.
%e still don't $now whether or not NSA or G*<O ounts as a global adversary, but we do $now that
they "onitor a large portion of the #nternet! #t's too early to $now for sure how often these intelligene
agenies an defeat the anony"ity of the Tor networ$!
Even if they an, using Tor still gives us "any advantages! #t "a$es their (ob "uh harder, and we
leave "uh less identifying data on the servers we onnet to through the Tor networ$! #t "a$es it
"uh harder to be the viti" of a =#T= atta$ at our loal networ$ or #S& level! And even if so"e Tor
iruits an be defeated by a global adversary, if enough people are getting their traffi routed through
the sa"e Tor nodes at the sa"e ti"e, it "ight be diffiult for the adversary to tell whih traffi belongs
to whih iruits!
The easiest way to start using Tor is to download and install the Tor )rowser )undle
/3
!
1J The Tor &ro(et, https011www!torpro(et!org1
/2 Tor and <TT&S, https011www!eff!org1pages1tor.and.https
/1 Tor's bug tra$er0 https011tra!torpro(et!org1pro(ets1torP "ailing list0
https011www!torpro(et!org1dos1dou"entationN=ailingAistsP and soure ode0 https011gitweb!torpro(et!org1tor!git6
a7treePhb7<EA'
// Tor doesn't protet you fro" a global adversary, https011tails!bou"!org1do1about1warning1inde,!en!ht"lNinde,4h1
/3 'ownload the Tor )rowser )undle, https011www!torpro(et!org1download1download.easy!ht"l!en
Freedom of the Press Foundation / 2 pressfreedomfoundationorg
%hen Snowden was answering questions on Guardian's website
/>
fro" a @seure #nternet onnetion@,
he was probably routing his traffi through the Tor networ$! <e "ay have also been using a bridge
/?
to
onnet to the Tor networ$ to "a$e the fat that he was using Tor fro" his #& address less obvious to
eavesdroppers!
,ff-the-.ecor# /,&.0 %hat
Gff.the.-eord
/C
DGT-E is a layer of enryption that an be added to any e,isting instant "essage hat
syste", provided that you an onnet to that hat syste" using a hat lient that supports GT-, suh
as &idgin or Adiu"
/4
! %ith GT- it's possible to have seure, end.to.end enrypted onversations over
servies li$e Google Tal$ and :aeboo$ hat without Google or :aeboo$ ever having aess to the
ontents of the onversations! Note0 this is different than the @off.the.reord@ option in Google, whih
is not seure! And re"e"ber0 while Google and :aeboo$Fs <TT&S onnetion is very valuable for
protetion against your "essage while itFs in transit, they still have the $eys to your onversations so
they an hand the" over to authorities!
/> Edward Snowden0 NSA whistleblower answers reader questions,
http011www!guardian!o!u$1world1/2131(un1141edward.snowden.nsa.files.whistleblower
/? )ridge'), https011bridges!torpro(et!org1
/C Gff.the.-eord =essaging, http011www!ypherpun$s!a1otr1
/4 &idgin, https011pidgin!i"1P Adiu", http011adiu"!i"1
Freedom of the Press Foundation 1: / 2 pressfreedomfoundationorg
GT- is used for two things0 encrypting the contents of real.ti"e instant "essage onversations and
verifying the identity of people that you hat with! #dentity verifiation is e,tre"ely i"portant and
so"ething that "any GT- users neglet to do! %hile GT- is "uh "ore user friendly that other for"s
of publi $ey enryption, if you wish to use it seurely you still need to understand how it wor$s and
what atta$s against it are possible!
Service Provi#ers an# ;a''er
+sing GT- only enrypts the ontents of your hat onversations but not the "etadata related to the"!
This "etadata inludes who you tal$ to and when and how often you tal$ to the"! :or this reason #
reo""end using a servie that isn't $nown to ollaborate with intelligene agenies! %hile this won't
neessarily protet your "etadata at least you have a hane of $eeping it private!
# also reo""end you use an K=&& Dalso $nown as 9abberE servie! Ai$e e"ail, 9abber is a federated,
open protool! +sers of riseup!net's 9abber servie an hat with users of (abber!!de's servie as well
as (abber!org's servie
/B
!
,&. %lients
To use GT- you'll need to download software! #f you use %indows you an download and install
&idgin and separately the GT- plugin
/J
! #f you use GN+1Ainu, you an install the pidgin and pidgin.
otr pa$ages! Hou an read through dou"entation on how to set up your &idgin aounts with GT-
32
!
#f you use =a GS K you an download and install Adiu", whih is a free software hat lient that
inludes GT- support! Hou an read the offiial dou"entation on how to get set up with GT-
enryption with Adiu"
31
!
There are also 9abber and GT- lients available for Android, alled Gibberbot
3/
, and for iGS, alled
*hatSeure
33
!
Your <ey
%hen you start using GT-, your hat lient generates an enryption $ey and stores it in a file in your
user's ho"e folder on your hard drive! #f your o"puter or s"artphone get lost, stolen, or infeted with
"alware, it's possible that your GT- $ey an get o"pro"ised! #f this happens, it would be possible for
an atta$er with ontrol over your 9abber server to be able to "ount a =#T= atta$ against you while
you're hatting with people who have previously verified your identity!
/B :ind infor"ation about these free 9abber servies here0 https011www!riseup!net1en1hat, https011web!(abber!!de1,
http011www!(abber!org1
/J After downloading and installing &idgin fro" https011pidgin!i"1 you "ust download and install the GT- plugin fro"
http011www!ypherpun$s!a1otr1
32 'ou"entation for using &idgin with GT-, http011www!ypherpun$s!a1otr1inde,!phpNdos
31 Adiu", whih you an download at http011adiu"!i"1, o"es with GT-! Hou an find dou"entation for it at
http011adiu"!i"1help1pgs1Advaned:eatures.GT-Enryption!ht"l!
3/ Gibberbot, GT- 9abber lient for Android, https011guardianpro(et!info1apps1gibber1
33 *hatSeure, GT- 9abber lient for iGS, http011hrisballinger!info1apps1hatseure1
Sessions
#f you want to use GT- to tal$ privately with your friends, your friends also need to be using it! An
enrypted session between two people requires two enryption $eys! :or e,a"ple, if you and your
friend are both logged into :aeboo$ hat using Adiu" or &idgin and you have both onfigured GT-,
you an hat in private! <owever if you are logged into #= using Adiu" or &idgin but your friend is
hatting diretly fro" faeboo$!o" in a web browser, you annot have an enrypted onversation!
#f you wish to use :aeboo$ or Google's servies to hat with your friends, # reo""end disabling hat
within the web interfae of these servies and only using Adiu" and &idgin to onnet, and
enouraging all of your friends to do the sa"e thing
3>
!
%hen you start an enrypted GT- session, your lient software will tell you so"ething li$e this0
Attempting to start a private conversation with username@jabberservice...
Unverified conversation with username@jabberservice/ChatClient started.
#f you have already verified the GT- fingerprint of the person you're tal$ing with D"ore on this belowE
your session will loo$ li$e this0
Attempting to start a private conversation with username@jabberservice...
Private conversation with username@jabberservice/ChatClient started.
%hen you start a new GT- session, your GT- software and your friend's GT- software send a series
of "essages ba$ and forth to agree upon a new session $ey! This te"porary enryption $ey, whih is
only $nown by your #= lients and is never sent over the #nternet, is then used to enrypt and derypt
"essages! %hen the session is finished both lients forget the $ey! #f you start hatting with the sa"e
person later, your lients generate a brand new session $ey!
#n this way, even if an eavesdropper is logging all of your enrypted GT- onversations8whih NSA
believes it is legally allowed to do
3?
, even if you're a +S iti;en and they don't have a warrant or
probable ause8and later they o"pro"ise your GT- $ey, they annot use it to go ba$ and derypt
your old onversations!
This property is alled forward serey, and it is a feature that GT- has whih &G& does not! #f your
&G& seret $ey D"ore on this belowE gets o"pro"ised, and the atta$er has aess to all the enrypted
"essages you've reeived, they an go ba$ and derypt the" all! -ead "ore about how forward
serey wor$s, and why all "a(or #nternet o"panies should adopt it for their websites
3C
! The good
news is Google has already adopted forward serey, and :aeboo$ will i"ple"ent it soon as well
34
!
3> Hou an find instrutions for doing so for :aeboo$ at https011www!faeboo$!o"1help1/1?BBB>C?12//?31, and for
Google at https011support!google!o"1hat1bin1answer!py6hl7enQanswer71C1B/3
3? #n 'epth -eview0 New NSA 'ou"ents E,pose <ow A"erians *an )e Spied on %ithout A %arrant,
https011www!eff!org1deeplin$s1/21312C1depth.review.new.nsa.dou"ents.e,pose.how.a"erians.an.be.spied.without.
warrant
3C Aong Ter" &rivay with :orward Serey, https011www!eff!org1deeplin$s1/2111111long.ter".privay.forward.serey
34 &erfet forward serey, https011www!faeboo$!o"1pages1&erfet.forward.serey1121BJ?/1C?1JC??
,&. "ingerprint =erification
%hen you start a new GT- session with so"eone, your #= software reeives the fingerprint of her
enryption $ey, and your GT- software re"e"bers this fingerprint! As long as so"eone uses the sa"e
enryption $ey when she tal$s to you, presu"ably beause she's onsistently using the sa"e devie, she
will have the sa"e fingerprint! #f her fingerprint hanges then either she is using a different GT- $ey or
you are both the target of a =#T= atta$!
%ithout verifying $eys you have no way to $now that you're not falling viti" to an undeteted,
suessful =#T= atta$!
Even if the person you're talking to is definitely your real friend because she know things that
only she would know, and you're using OTR encryption, an attacker might still be reading your
conversation. This is beause you "ight atually be having an enrypted GT- onversation with the
atta$er, who is then having a separate enrypted GT- onversation with your real friend and (ust
forwarding "essages ba$ and forth! -ather than your friend's fingerprint your lient would be seeing
the atta$er's fingerprint! All you, as a user, an see is that the onversation is @+nverified@!
The following sreenshots show &idgin's visual indiations of fingerprint verifiation! #f you have
verified GT- fingerprints your onversation is private, and if you haven't, your onversation is
enrypted but you "ight be under atta$! Hou an't $now for sure without verifying!

#f you li$ the +nverified lin$ Din Adiu" it's a lo$ ionE you an hoose @Authentiate buddy@! The
GT- protool supports three types of verifiation0 the soialist "illionaire
3B
protool, a shared seret
3J
,
and "anual fingerprint verifiation! All GT- lients support "anual fingerprint verifiation, but not all
lients support other types of verifiation! %hen in doubt, hoose "anual fingerprint verifiation!
3B Soialist "illionaire, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1Soialist5"illionaire
3J Shared seret, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1Shared5seret
#n the sreenshot above, you an see the GT- fingerprints for both users in the session! The other
person should see the e,at sa"e fingerprints! #n order to be sure that both parties are seeing the orret
fingerprints you both need to "eet up in person, or tal$ on the phone if you an reogni;e their voie,
or find so"e other out.of.band but seure "ethod to verify fingerprints, suh as sending a &G&
enrypted and signed e"ail!
GT- fingerprints are >2 he,adei"al haraters! #t's statistially i"possible to generate two GT- $eys
that have the sa"e fingerprint, whih is alled a ollision! <owever it is possible to generate an GT-
$ey that isn't a ollision but loo$s li$e one on ursory inspetion! :or e,a"ple, the first few haraters
and last few haraters ould be the sa"e with different haraters in the "iddle! :or this reason, it's
i"portant to o"pare eah of the >2 haraters to be sure you have the orret GT- $ey!
)eause you generally set up a new GT- $ey eah ti"e you set up a new devie Dfor e,a"ple, if you
want to use the sa"e 9abber aount to hat fro" your Android phone with Gibberbot as you use on
your %indows &* with &idginE, you often end up with "ultiple $eys, and therefore "ultiple
fingerprints! #t's i"portant to repeat the verifiation step on eah devie with eah ontat you tal$ to!
#t's still "uh better pratie to use GT- without verifying fingerprints than to not use GT- at all! An
atta$er that atte"pts a =#T= atta$ against an GT- session runs the very real ris$ of getting aught,
so li$ely this atta$ will only be used autiously!
+ogs
<ere is an e,erpt fro" the hat logs, published by %ired
>2
, of a onversation between )radley
=anning and Adrian Aa"o, who turned hi" in to authorities0
'69:1956 P%) #radass4; has not #een authenticated yet. <ou should authenticate this #uddy.
'69:1956 P%) Unerified conersation with #radass4; started.
'69:6960 P%) #radass4;9 hi
'69::91: P%) #radass4;9 how are you=
'69:;916 P%) #radass4;9 im an army intelligence analyst, deployed to eastern #aghdad,
pending discharge for >ad-ustment disorder> in lieu of >gender identity disorder>
'695890: P%) #radass4;9 im sure you*re pretty #usy...
'69549?6 P%) #radass4;9 if you had unprecedented access to classified networks 6: hours a
day ; days a week for 4@ months, what would you do=
'69549?6 P%) infoAadrianlamo.com 9 "ired of #eing tired
'096;902 P%) #radass4;9 =
'891;902 P%) infoAadrianlamo.com9 What*s your %!S=
As you an see fro" @+nverified onversation with bradassB4 started,@ they were using GT- to enrypt
their onversation, yet it still ended up getting published on %ired's website and used as evidene
against )radley =anning! %hile it's possible their onversation was under a =#T= atta$, it's very
unli$ely! #nstead both )radley =anning's and Adrian Aa"o's GT- lients were logging a opy of their
onversation to their hard drives, unenrypted!
%hile it an so"eti"es be useful to $eep logs of onversations, it also greatly o"pro"ises your
privay! #f &idgin and Adiu" didn't log GT- onversations by default, it's li$ely that these hat logs
would never have beo"e part of the publi reord!
%ith the release of GT- >!2 in Septe"ber /21/, &idgin stopped logging GT- onversations by default!
Adiu" still logs GT- onversations by default so you "ust "anually turn off logging yourself, whih
is a bug in Adiu"
>1
!
>2 =anning.Aa"o *hat Aogs -evealed, http011www!wired!o"1threatlevel1/2111241"anning.la"o.logs
>1 )eause Adiu" is free software with an open bug tra$er, you an follow and ontribute to the onversations about
fi,ing this bug https011tra!adiu"!i"1ti$et11?4// and https011tra!adiu"!i"1ti$et11?4/J
>Pretty 2oo# Privacy> /P2P0 E$ail
Encryption
#n 1JJ1, &hil Mi""er"ann developed e"ail enryption software alled &retty Good &rivay
>/
, or &G&,
whih he intended peae ativists to use while organi;ing in the anti.nulear "ove"ent!
Today, &G& is a o"pany that sells a proprietary enryption progra" by the sa"e na"e! Gpen&G&
>3
is
the open protool that defines how &G& enryption wor$s, and Gnu&G
>>
DG&G for shortE is free
software, and is 122R o"patible with the proprietary version! G&G is "uh "ore popular than &G&
today beause it's free for everyone to download, and ypherpun$s trust it "ore beause it's open
soure! The ter"s &G& and G&G are often used interhangably!
+nfortunately, &G& is notoriously hard to use, as e,e"plified by Greenwald e,plaining how he ould
not initially tal$ to Edward Snowden beause it was so diffiult to set up
>?
!
<eypairs an# <eyrings
As with GT-, eah person who wishes to send or reeive enrypted e"ail needs to generate their own
&G& $ey, alled a $eypair! &G& $eypairs are split into two parts, the publi $ey and the seret $ey!
#f you have so"eone's publi $ey, you an do two things0 encrypt messages that an only be derypted
with their seret $ey, and verify signatures that were generated with their seret $ey! #t's safe to give
your publi $ey to anyone who wants it! The worst anyone an do with it is enrypt "essages that only
you an derypt!
%ith your seret $ey you an do two things0 decrypt messages that were enrypted using your publi
$ey, and digitally sign messages! #t's i"portant to $eep your seret $ey seret! An atta$er with your
seret $ey an derypt "essages intended only for you, and he an forge "essages on your behalf!
Seret $eys are generally enrypted with a passphrase, so even if your o"puter gets o"pro"ised and
your seret $ey gets stolen, the atta$er would need to get your passphrase before he would have aess
to it! +nli$e GT-, &G& does not have forward serey! #f your &G& seret $ey is o"pro"ised and the
atta$er has opies of any historial enrypted e"ails you have reeived, he an go ba$ and retro.
atively derypt the" all!
Sine you need other people's publi $eys in order to enrypt "essages to the", &G& software lets you
"anage a $eyring with your seret $ey, your publi $ey, and all of the publi $eys of the people you
o""uniate with!
+sing &G& for e"ail enryption an be very inonvenient! :or e,a"ple, if you set up &G& on your
o"puter but have reeived an enrypted e"ail on your phone, you won't be able to derypt it to read
>/ &retty Good &rivay, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1&retty5Good5&rivay
>3 The Gpen&G& Alliane, http011openpgp!org1
>> GN+ &rivay Guard, http011www!gnupg!org1
>? <ow Glenn Greenwald )egan *o""uniating %ith NSA %histleblower Edward Snowden,
http011www!huffingtonpost!o"1/21312C1121edward.snowden.glenn.greenwald5n53>1CJ4B!ht"l61342BJ?B1B
the e"ail until you get to your o"puter!
Ai$e GT-, eah &G& $ey has a unique fingerprint! Hou an find a opy of "y publi $ey on :reedo"
of the &ress :oundation's website
>C
, and "y fingerprint is ?*14 C1C3 C1)' J:J/ >//A *2B) )>'/
?A1E JJJJ JCJ4! #f you loo$ at "y publi $ey you'll see that it's quite long and would be hard to read
out over the phone! A fingerprint is a short and "ore onvenient way to uniquely represent a $ey! %ith
"y publi $ey you an enrypt "essages that only # an derypt, provided that "y seret $ey has not
been o"pro"ised!
Passphrases
The seurity of rypto often relies on the seurity of a password! Sine passwords are very easily
guessed by o"puters, ryptographers prefer the ter" passphrase
>4
to enourage users to "a$e their
passwords very long and seure!
*o"i ourtsey KL*', https011,$d!o"1J3C1
:or tips on hoosing good passphrases, read the passphrase setion of E::'s 'efending &rivay at the
>C #t's too long to publish in print0 https011pressfreedo"foundation!org1$eys1"iah!as
>4 &assphrase, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1&assphrase
+!S! )order0 A Guide for Travelers *arrying 'igital 'evies whitepaper
>B
, and also the 'ieware
&assphrase <o"e &age
>J
!
#n addition to proteting &G& seret $eys, you also need to hoose good passphrases for dis$ enryption
and password vaults
?2
!
Software
To install G&G, %indows users an download Gpg>win
?1
, and =a GS K users an download
G&GTools
?/
! #f you run GN+1Ainu, you should already have G&G installed! G&G is a o""and line
progra", but there's software that interfaes with e"ail lients that "a$es it "uh easier to use!
Hou'll have to download an e"ail lient to use &G& orretly! An e"ail lient is a progra" on your
o"puter that you open to he$ your e"ail, as opposed to using your web browser! The "ost popular
&G& setup is the e"ail lient Thunderbird with the Enig"ail add.on
?3
! Thunderbird and Enig"ail are
free software and run on %indow, =a, and GN+1Ainu,!
-ight now &G& is very diffiult to use seurely fro" a web browser! %hile so"e browser e,tensions
e,ist that help with this, # would reo""end sti$ing to a des$top e"ail lient until the field of browser
rypto "atures! #t's possible to use &G& enryption with G"ail, but the easiest way is to set up an e"ail
lient li$e Thunderbird and run your G"ail aount through it!
Encrypting? @ecrypting? an# Signatures
Hou an send enrypted e"ails and digitally sign the" using the graphial user interfae provided by
Thunderbird and Enig"ail! <ere's an e,a"ple of an enrypted e"ail that #'" sending to "yself! %hen #
hit send, "y software too$ the body of the "essage and enrypted it using "y publi $ey, "a$ing the
ontent unintelligible to eavesdroppers, and indeed to "y e"ail provider too!
>B https011www!eff!org1wp1defending.privay.us.border.guide.travelers.arrying.digital.deviesNpassphrase
>J The 'ieware &assphrase <o"e &age, http011world!std!o"1Sreinhold1dieware!ht"l
?2 &assword "anager, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1&assword5"anager
?1 Gpg>win, http011www!gpg>win!org1
?/ G&GTools, https011gpgtools!org1
?3 Hou an download Thunderbird at https011www!"o;illa!org1en.+S1thunderbird and Enig"ail at
http011enig"ail!net1ho"e1inde,!php
%hen # opened this e"ail # was pro"pted to type in "y enryption passphrase to derypt it! Sine it
was enrypted using "y publi $ey, the only way # ould derypt it is with "y seret $ey! Sine "y
seret $ey is proteted with a passphrase, # needed to type "y passphrase to te"porarily derypt "y
seret $ey in order to use it to derypt the "essage!
P2P (snAt ;ust "or E$ail
%hile &G& is often used for e"ail enryption, nothing stops you fro" using it to enrypt anything and
publish it using any "ediu"! Hou an post &G& enrypted "essages on blogs, soial networ$s, and
foru"s!
Levin &oulsen published a &G& enrypted "essage on %ired's website
?>
intended for Edward Snowden
to read! As long as %ired has a opy of Snowden's real publi $ey, only so"eone in possession of
Snowden's seret $ey an derypt this "essage! %e don't $now how %ired got a opy of Snowden's
publi $ey!
?> Gur Top.Seret =essage to NSA %histleblower Edward Snowden, http011www!wired!o"1threatlevel1/21312C1signed.
bda2df31
Freedom of the Press Foundation 2: / 2 pressfreedomfoundationorg
<ere's a "essage that was enrypted to "y publi $ey! %ithout having aess to "y assoiated seret
$ey, NSA should not be able to brea$ the enryption! DNSA, let "e $now if you get it!E
-----B!"# P!P $%%A!-----
&ersion' !nuP! v(.).(* +!#U/,inu-.
h/"$A01$2&3og456A///7ep86iiC$%m,9/Pt4)d*w/9:;fj-")c(rw5jf9</Ai)n
1=>r38?"bg@u9uv/:Bjl5Ap2Bcm**n1B/m95P/2Cb-o5b72gsB4C,D#en/C2E$#$
i8EC5BF0*sgP331i8&/<s>#-AAfegb$seo78DcDw&iG()giB/wA;#Gw2"Cm08P@j
A5?B$A4:iEBdrmAC>:f=fA/d4Au4cC&&a0GG(*/up@>-;i:mm9A-ws<i9ta</
vg0i(gv>BeAm7?nc9!onA:0eCC"6Dc;0CeuhCGA:5$3ArnBEP8p55fc/;/!sp<o
%b-&@2evw@*U9ebe>/@*5A,4;#nEsF>sg/$)E:s$gv6";"19f7<erhD$t2im%t(
/!ph3m<6PEv<Bib48U4;!s6U(/*C$"l?B&$@6"p?<Eh1#g0itAaa)gehFGl(1-a
p60>2G$#t2CED0hB7mF#UfGwUv3B90d/0,9h28/"D=b7B#Fh1cgB25Cip3=4=j,
i&h;t>!PfB1An5E@>c6jes6=t>)hDudC-@$&:?n@"v:D!tf-sf/e;6&mmfB!#!
gl-:fb3t:ps,3ngD$ne6?BFB3!Ds<2r4b=jEm1wpC8GA>3p5@b5j/gs0t4e7&
-i/dBp#6njn!i"CA%C-Fr"Eu>b@jo208102#f,vPE?0e3(iw40ebj,vGhvG6*j%
pw!u7uF/0/#6ou(EfU4/,:$:%e2ACm)wP4>fU!n70o(v<?8r<4/8ev"iA/G$AF5
gD*:?17>!g)ll!8BCAnB9c2!gC;<(>93U4#(&G4:?:B,o#s<A1eeng3vmi,49D<
En,tP)49G*rn1i6B2/Pnj("fPonsda#ttb5*fhpD7a/r(sUA?ad7e=s;*v=02$gB
"1h2Ae8ilD4t?,s*m1u0r<D$0>6hi-%h
Ha0DE
-----#G P!P $%%A!-----
(#entity =erification
As with GT-, it's i"portant that you verify the &G& $eys of the people you o""uniate with! #n &G&
you do this by using your seret $ey to digitally sign so"eone else's publi $ey!
:ro" inside Thunderbird you an li$ the Gpen&G& "enu and open Ley =anage"ent! Hou an he$
the @'isplay All Leys by 'efault@ he$bo, to see all of the $eys in your $eyring! :ro" here you an
i"port $eys fro" files, fro" your lipboard, or fro" $ey servers! Hou an also generate new $eypairs,
and view details of all the $eys in your $eyring!
As with GT- $eys, eah &G& $ey has a unique fingerprint! And as with GT-, you need to read out the
entire fingerprint to be sure the publi $ey you're loo$ing at atually belongs to the person you believe
it belongs to!
Hou an right.li$ on a $ey in this list and hoose Iiew 'etails to see its fingerprint! <ere are the
details of the &G& $ey that the dis$ enryption software True*rypt
??
uses to digitally digitally sign
releases of its software!
?? True*rypt, http011www!truerypt!org1
Also li$e GT-, you need to "eet in person, tal$ on the phone, or use an already verified GT- session
to o"pare eah harater of the fingerprint!
After you have verified that the publi $ey you have belongs to the person you thin$ it does, you an
li$ @Selet ation@ and hoose @Sign Ley@!
#n the sreenshot above # he$ed the @Aoal signatures Dannot be e,portedE@ bo,! #n this way, you an
sign &G& $eys, whih is neessary for Enig"ail and other &G& software to display seurity "essages
that "a$e sense, but you don't run the ris$ of aidentally publishing who you o""uniate with to a
&G& $ey server
?C
!
#f you reeive an enrypted e"ail fro" so"eone you $now but the e"ail is not digitally signed, you
an't be o"pletely sure that it was atually written by the person you thin$! #t's possible it ould be
so"eone who spoofed their e"ail address or o"pro"ised their e"ail aount!
#f your friend tells you in this e"ail that she generated a new $ey, you need to "eet up in person or tal$
to her on the phone and read out your fingerprints before you an be sure that you're not under atta$!
Attacks
#f you don't verify identities you have no way of $nowing whether or not you are the viti" of a =#T=
atta$!
?C &rivay onerns of $ey servers, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1Ley5server5R/BryptographiR/JN&rivay5onerns
%ashington &ost (ournalist )arton Gell"an, who Edward Snowden trusted with infor"ation about the
NSA's &-#S= progra", wrote about his e,periene using &G&
?4
!
!n "hursday, #efore "he Post pu#lished its first story, $ made contact on a new channel. Be
was not e+pecting me there and responded in alarm.
>Co $ know you=> he wrote.
$ sent him a note on another channel to erify my digital >fingerprint,> a precaution we had
#een using for some time. "ired, $ sent the wrong one. >"hat is not at all the right fingerprint,>
he wrote, preparing to sign off. ><ou*re getting %$"%*d.> Be was talking a#out a >man in the
middle> attack, a standard NSA technique to #ypass encryption. $ hastily corrected my error.
Snowden was right to be autious and to insist that he he$ Gell"an's new &G& fingerprint! &G&, if
used right, provides the tools neessary to prevent =#T= atta$s! )ut these tools only wor$ if the users
are vigilant about identity verifiation!
&ails! &he A$nesic (ncognito +ive Syste$
+sing @properly i"ple"ented strong rypto syste"s@ has a huge learning urve and requires dediated
users who are willing to put in e,tra wor$ to ta$e ontrol of their own privay, whih is the "ain reason
why GT- and &G& are not urrently in widespread use! )ut even when you use these tools, how an
you ensure @endpoint seurity@ when you an't neessarily trust your operating syste" or other software
that you depend on every day6
The solution is to use an entirely different operating syste" o"prised o"pletely of @software you an
trust@ when you have a serious need for real privay! Tails
?B
helps solve this proble"!
"ails is a lie system that aims at presering your priacy and anonymity. $t helps you to use the
$nternet anonymously almost anywhere you go and on any computer #ut leae no trace using
unless you ask it e+plicitly.
$t is a complete operating,system designed to #e used from a CDC or a US/ stick independently
of the computer*s original operating system. $t is (ree Software and #ased on Ce#ian
ENUFGinu+.
"ails comes with seeral #uilt,in applications pre,configured with security in mind9 we#
#rowser, instant messaging client, email client, office suite, image and sound editor, etc.
Tails is not for everyone! #t's still diffiult to use o"pared to nor"al operating syste"s, it's slow, it
doesn't have all the software you "ay want! )ut Tails has all of these properties beause it's speifially
designed to "a$e it harder for users to "ess up their endpoint seurity! #f you're in a position where you
?4 *ode na"e TIera,F0 Snowden, in e,hanges with &ost reporter, "ade lear he $new ris$s,
http011www!washingtonpost!o"1world1national.seurity1ode.na"e.vera,.snowden.in.e,hanges.with.post.reporter.
"ade.lear.he.$new.ris$s1/21312C12J1Ja/?b?>.d1>.11e/.Jf1a.1a4dee/2/B45story!ht"l
?B Tails0 The A"nesi #nognito Aive Syste", https011tails!bou"!org1about1inde,!en!ht"l
thin$ that NSA, or any other potential atta$er, "ay want to target you and your olleagues Dthe
(ournalist1whistleblower relationship o"es to "indE it's one of the best tools available!
)eause Tails is not pratial for daily o"puter use, it's a good idea to get into the habit of using GT-
and &G& in your nor"al operating syste" as well! Tails won't help blunt the effets of dragnet
surveillane by itself, but enrypting as "uh as we an on a daily basis will!
Every ti"e you boot Tails you start fro" a lean slate! Anything you did in your previous session on
Tails gets erased and the syste" is reverted ba$ to the default state! This "eans that even if you get
infeted with "alware while using Tails, the ne,t ti"e you boot into it the "alware will be gone!
Hou an get started using Tails by downloading
?J
the 'I' i"age and burning it to a 'I'! Hou then
need to boot to this 'I'! This step is different depending on what "odel o"puter you have, but it
often involves entering your )#GS and hanging your boot order so your o"puter tries booting fro"
'I' before it tries your hard drive! Gn newer &*s you "ight need to disable +E:# @seure boot@
C2
in
the )#GS as well, whih is the rypto that's used to "a$e sure your o"puter will only boot to digitally
signed versions of %indows Dwhih, in affet, "a$es it harder for people to boot into non.%indows
operating syste"sE! The Tails website has "ore infor"ation on booting Tools fro" a 'I' or +S)
sti$
C1
!
After booting to the 'I' you have the option to install Tails on a +S) sti$, whih is espeially useful
beause it allows you to onfigure a persistent volu"e
C/
, an enrypted setion of your +S) sti$ to
store your data! 'espite starting fro" a lean slate eah ti"e you boot up, it's i"portant for you to be
able to have aess to your GT- and &G& $eys, your *laws =ail D"ore belowE and &idgin settings, and
any dou"ents you're wor$ing with! Hour persistent volu"e allows you to do this!
P2P an# E$ail in &ails
# disussed using Thunderbird with the Enig"ail add.on to aess your e"ail and use &G&, however
this software doesn't o"e with Tails! Tails o"es with *laws =ail
C3
whih inludes a &G& plugin!
?J 'ownload Tails fro" https011tails!bou"!org1download1inde,!en!ht"l, and be sure to verify the &G& signature
C2 +nified E,tensible :ir"ware #nterfae, )ooting,
https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1+nified5E,tensible5:ir"ware5#nterfaeN)ooting
C1 Start TailsU, https011tails!bou"!org1download1inde,!en!ht"lNstart
C/ &ersistene in Tails, https011tails!bou"!org1do1first5steps1persistene1inde,!en!ht"l
C3 *laws =ail, http011www!laws."ail!org1
#nstead of using Enig"ail's &G& $ey "anage"ent graphial user interfae to i"port, e,port, generate,
view details about, and sign $eys, you an li$ on the lipboard ion in the top right of the sreen and
hoose =anage Leys to open Seahorse
C>
, whih provides these sa"e features!
C> Seahorse, https011wi$i!gno"e!org1Seahorse
Workflow
To get started having private o""uniations with your friends and olleagues with very high endpoint
seurity, here are the steps you need to ta$e!
=eet up with your friends fae.to.fae! Eah person should bring their own laptop and +S)
sti$!
'ownload and burn a Tails 'I'! )oot to Tails and reate Tails +S) sti$s for eah person!
%hen everyone has a Tails +S) sti$, eah person should boot to Tails on her own laptop and
onfigure a persistene volu"e on her +S) sti$! Sine this volu"e is enrypted, eah person
should o"e up with her own seure passphrase that she will need to enter eah ti"e she boots
to Tails! Everyone should reboot their laptops into Tails again and this ti"e "ount the persistent
volu"e!
Eah person should reate a new pseudony"ous 9abber aount! Gne way to do this is to go to
https011register!(abber!org1 in #eweasel! Sine Tails "a$es all #nternet traffi go over Tor, this is
effetively "a$ing an anony"ous 9abber aount!
Eah person should open &idgin and onfigure it to use their new 9abber aount and reate a
new GT- $ey! Everyone should add eah other to their buddy lists and start GT- sessions with
eahother! Sine everyone is in the sa"e roo", this is the perfet ti"e to o"pare fingerprints
and verify the identity of all parties so that you'll able to o""uniate seurely over the #nternet
in the future!
Eah person should reate a new pseudony"ous e"ail address as well! So"e e"ail providers,
suh as G"ail, "a$e it very diffiult to reate new aounts while using Tor and staying
anony"ous, so find another e"ail provider to use instead! =a$e sure your e"ail provider
supports #=A& Dso you an use a des$top e"ail lientE over SSA Dso your e"ail lient uses
enryption when o""uniating with the e"ail sreverE! #f everyone hooses the sa"e e"ail
provider, sending e"ails between aounts should never leave that e"ail server, whih redues
the "etadata about your e"ail usage available to anyone onduting dragnet surveillane of the
#nternet!
Eah person should generate a new &G& $ey for their e"ail address! Ai$e with dis$ enryption,
it's i"portant to hoose a strong passphrase when generating a &G& $ey!
The &G&.enabled e"ail lient that o"es with Tails is alled *laws =ail! Eah person should
onfigure *laws =ail to use their new e"ail address, and then e"ail a opy of their publi $ey
to all other people in the roo"!
Eah person should i"port everyone else's publi $ey into their $eyring, and should "anually
verify the &G& fingerprints! 'on't s$ip this step! #n the end, eah person should have a $eyring
ontaining signed $eys of eah other person!
#f a "aliious atta$er physially steals your Tails +S) sti$, "odifies it, and gives it ba$, he an
o"pro"ise all of the seurity of Tails! :or this reason, it's i"portant to $eep your +S) sti$ with you
at all ti"es!
<ad *#A 'iretor and retired four.star general 'avid &etraeus and his biographer &aula )roadwell
deided to use Tails, Tor, GT-, and &G&, their e,tra"arital affair
C?
li$ely would have re"ained seret!
A :ighting *hane
C? &etraeus sandal, https011en!wi$ipedia!org1wi$i1&etraeus5sandal
A "ighting %hance
&roteting your privay in the age of ubiquitous NSA surveillane is inredibly o"ple,! Gaining a
basi understanding of the onepts involved, "uh less atually using the software that's available, has
an enor"ous learning urve!
)ut even with diret aess to all the data traveling at the speed of light through the #nternet's ba$bone
fiber.opti ables
CC
, even with ooperation of the "a(or +nited States teh o"panies
C4
Dwhih are
e,tre"ely diffiult for people to boyottE, the largest, "ost powerful, and best funded surveillane
apparatus that hu"anity has ever seen annot defeat "athe"atis!
The hallenge of the new ypherpun$ "ove"ent is to "a$e seure and verified end.to.end enryption
aessible to everyone, and turned on by default!
CC G*<O taps fibre.opti ables for seret aess to world's o""uniations,
http011www!guardian!o!u$1u$1/2131(un1/11ghq.ables.seret.world.o""uniations.nsa
C4 NSA slides e,plain the &-#S= data.olletion progra", http011www!washingtonpost!o"1wp.srv1speial1politis1pris".
olletion.dou"ents1

Encryption Works: How To Protect Your Privacy in The Age of NSA Surveillance

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