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Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

qubes-os.org

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Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#11

Post by llm_trw »

zvmaz wrote: post #10
DrWhax wrote: post #8

QubesOS was my main driver for a couple of years, but I have to say that the low battery life compared to only software rendering got pretty annoying after a while. Depending on the hardware, you'll need to possibly disable certain options in the BIOS/UEFI, like for an t490 that I documented: https://groups.google.com/g/qubes-users/c/Z0Kfm53zMxQ/m/IV-A...

What to use instead if one cares about privacy and security (what I call personal sovereignty)? It's a non-rhetorical question.

You use qubes and eat the loss of battery life.

Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#12

Post by schoen »

behnamoh wrote: post #7

A simple screenshot of the OS environment would have been nice. But generally, I don't think people adopt operating systems just by seeing new recommendations on Hacker News or different forums. Most people have settled on macOS and then Linux and then Windows. and within the Linux ecosystem most people just use Ubuntu or Fedora and that's it. I don't see anyone using these other esoteric operating systems as a daily…

Qubes was created in 2012!

It mostly runs Linux applications.

Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#13

Post by wongarsu »

behnamoh wrote: post #7

A simple screenshot of the OS environment would have been nice. But generally, I don't think people adopt operating systems just by seeing new recommendations on Hacker News or different forums. Most people have settled on macOS and then Linux and then Windows. and within the Linux ecosystem most people just use Ubuntu or Fedora and that's it. I don't see anyone using these other esoteric operating systems as a daily…

CubesOS is the choice if you need a very high level of security, are willing to accept some workflow changes to achieve that, but still want a modern graphical operating system that runs all your normal software in a unified workspace.

Nothing else provides a similar mix of security and usability. The alternatives are either much less secure or have much worse usability.

Of course only few people have these kinds of requirements. I'd recommend Qubes OS if you are an investigative journalist or working in offensive or defensive IT security. Everyone else can safely ignore it.

Still, even if it's not made for most of us it makes interesting design decisions that are very much of interest to this forum. And a lot of the people it is made for are here too

Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#14

Post by johannes1234321 »

behnamoh wrote: post #7

A simple screenshot of the OS environment would have been nice. But generally, I don't think people adopt operating systems just by seeing new recommendations on Hacker News or different forums. Most people have settled on macOS and then Linux and then Windows. and within the Linux ecosystem most people just use Ubuntu or Fedora and that's it. I don't see anyone using these other esoteric operating systems as a daily…

> A simple screenshot of the OS environment would have been nice.

https://www.qubes-os.org/screenshots/

Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#15

Post by Crontab »

Even though I never used Qubes OS I used to really enjoy Joanna Rutkowska's passion for it.

Other women who's computing enthusiasm I enjoyed was Jessie Frazelle's writing and speaking about running everything in Docker on her laptop and Sacha Chua's love for Emacs.

Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#16

Post by Fnoord »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #2

I would say, a little more hesitantly, that it deeply depends on what you are doing. When interacting remotely with untrusted services, apps, or documents, Qubes cannot be beaten. However, if I was afraid of my laptop getting attacked with an evil maid attack, I’m sticking with my Mac, Secure Boot, and FileVault; so that my Lock Screen is less likely to be patched against me. If I’m afraid of persistent malware, I wa…

> When interacting remotely with untrusted services, apps, or documents, Qubes cannot be beaten.

Sums up WWW.

But I believe you could use a VM or container and use such. For example, with Whonix (which also works in Qubes!)

What I'd like is use such in macOS but alas Jobs & Cook ask premium price for RAM on Macs.

With regards to Donetsk example (I like the example). There is a good reason being hidden in plain sight is blending in with masses. It is difficult to get such OPSEC right, and you need to consider different techniques for if one gets burned.

Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#17

Post by mrtesthah »

accassar wrote: post #4
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #2

I would say, a little more hesitantly, that it deeply depends on what you are doing. When interacting remotely with untrusted services, apps, or documents, Qubes cannot be beaten. However, if I was afraid of my laptop getting attacked with an evil maid attack, I’m sticking with my Mac, Secure Boot, and FileVault; so that my Lock Screen is less likely to be patched against me. If I’m afraid of persistent malware, I wa…

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/anti-evil-maid/

How about Heads?

https://osresearch.net/

https://forum.qubes-os.org/t/what-makes-heads-so-great-when-...

Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#18

Post by cspeterson »

behnamoh wrote: post #7

A simple screenshot of the OS environment would have been nice. But generally, I don't think people adopt operating systems just by seeing new recommendations on Hacker News or different forums. Most people have settled on macOS and then Linux and then Windows. and within the Linux ecosystem most people just use Ubuntu or Fedora and that's it. I don't see anyone using these other esoteric operating systems as a daily…

FWIW, seeing Qubes on HN some weeks ago got me to try it out, and it's been my daily driver since. Good timing since I had holiday vacation to spend time with it before going back to $JOB on the machine.

PS Qubes is Linux. The base domain hypervisor is Fedora-based, and while it is possible to run Windows in a "Qube," the docs and tooling clearly concentrate upon Linux (Fedora and Debian) as the primary use case.

Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#19

Post by liamwire »

behnamoh wrote: post #7

A simple screenshot of the OS environment would have been nice. But generally, I don't think people adopt operating systems just by seeing new recommendations on Hacker News or different forums. Most people have settled on macOS and then Linux and then Windows. and within the Linux ecosystem most people just use Ubuntu or Fedora and that's it. I don't see anyone using these other esoteric operating systems as a daily…

Qubes is far from esoteric in spaces where security is paramount. Your lack of familiarity with it doesn’t mean it’s obscure. It’s more a tool for a specific subset of people and purposes, rather than an OS meant for wide adoption.

Re: Qubes OS: A reasonably secure operating system

#20

Post by oswalk »

Crontab wrote: post #15

Even though I never used Qubes OS I used to really enjoy Joanna Rutkowska's passion for it. Other women who's computing enthusiasm I enjoyed was Jessie Frazelle's writing and speaking about running everything in Docker on her laptop and Sacha Chua's love for Emacs.

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