It's sad that nowadays just wanting to have privacy is somehow seen as doing something wrong. This is nothing you should be ashamed of simply because you have right to be secured in your articles and belongings. Great video.
Yeah, and use cash only. Unregistered SIM cards, fake IDs, multiple passports with different names🙃. Yeah bro privacy for sure. That’s why Feds are suspicious. Why would you be private if you have nothing to hide mentality.
Technically you can still pull off the ram depending on the time... CIA have pulled data of ram before... To be 100% secure you need to cycle the ram so it writes back over... secondly it's not a ghost computer because it still has a physical MAC address, so can be tied to activity online. The next stage is to rip the wifi and rip the lan out of the laptop then use a USB wifi or lan that will allow you to spoof the mac address and leave the original mac address in the machine which is what they will look for to tie it to online activity.
@@dbffbbfs You would need to write a program that writes garbage data to the ram on shutdown... Or run memtest on the ram before shutting down... depends how illegal your activities are or how likely you are to be compromised... I used to use truecrypt years ago until they suddenly vanished... I had 128 bit and 256 bit encryption on drives which were impossible to crack... turns out the CIA cracked some truecrypt drives that were used by like some serious people... I'm no longer in a situation where I need this sort of protection anymore... But back in the day I had everything, dummy jpgs with hidden data in them, dummy system files which were actually complete drives with windows loaded on but only looked like 1bit sys files in windows... I was in deep lol
@@GhostStrats I have a question though. You say nothing is stored on the device but Im guessing this doesnt include hardware unique identifiers like a CPU cause they (im guessing) are stored in the same place where the BIOS is stored? This could technically mean you could be identified still, but it would make it a LOT harder?
@@anglerfish61 Your concern for privacy is valid, but a clarification: the BIOS chip (EEPROM) primarily stores the boot order and firmware, not the unique identifiers. These identifiers are stored in dedicated areas on the CPU or RAM and pose less of a privacy risk compared to potential backdoors or malicious code in closed-source BIOS/UEFI firmware. Since these proprietary systems can’t be fully audited, alternatives like LibreBoot or Coreboot offer more privacy, though they lack support for newer hardware. And yes you are right that it could be much more harder to track you in this case.
@@anglerfish61 Wanted to answer you since i didn't see a reply :) You raise a valid point. Unique hardware identifiers like the CPU, device IDs, or the information stored in the BIOS can theoretically be used to identify a device. However, these identifiers are typically not accessible or used by everyday applications for tracking users directly. For example, web-based applications generally don't have direct access to low-level hardware identifiers due to the layers of security and privacy safeguards. That being said, it is still possible for advanced tracking techniques or targeted attacks to use a combination of such identifiers and other data to attempt to re-identify a device. But, as you mentioned, this makes it significantly more challenging. If you're concerned about privacy and tracking, it's always a good idea to stay updated on security practices, use privacy-focused tools, and be mindful of the permissions you grant to applications. If you have any specific privacy or security concerns you'd like to discuss further, feel free to ask! God cares for you and jesus loves you have a blessed day :)
I think what you are best at is showing the hardware side of cyber security, keep that up, I love the style you have with the glow in the dark, looks really neat.
For those not technically inclined on the hardware side, or those that don't want the hassle of tearing up a laptop, you can do the exact same thing using a THIN CLIENT like the HP T620 or similar thin clients. They don't have a camera or microphone. Obviously not as portable, but the idea is still there, and they only pull 15 watts of power at idle. :)
@@GhostStrats Just a suggestion, make a video showing a setup of a thin client, they are dirt cheap on Ebay, RAM is easily upgradable and inexpensive as they usually use SODIMM. A second suggestion... for people who aren't hackers, but ARE concerned about privacy, make a video explaining from a "noob" point of view, the differences in stealth OSs, what makes one better than another, how to use TOR safely, again, through the eyes of a new viewer who wants to be safe and anonymous, so it would need to be a step by step tutorial, it might be long or in multiple parts, but it would help a lot of people. I have 35 years in IT, I am too tired and in ill health to make videos myself, but it would be great if you ran with it. :)
You know the most loved thing about your content is my brother, is your intuitive way of explaining key information. You are helping all of us grow with you, and your hardware engineering is magnificent. Nothing needs to look good it just needs to work, and in some cases be practical. Damn I almost forgot to mention that it’s nice to snip extra wire incase you wanted to setup a remote device for ta… I mean home security. :)
DNS leaks, HARDWARE MACS, WIFI TRIAGULATIONS, and ANY networks that the adapter has ALREADY connected to will be a crumb trail! He's trying hard to sound "TECHY"
I am concerned that hardware ID's, the permanent MAC or other serialized unique identifiers could still be compromised through low level hardware-layer attacks, or other lower parts of the TCP/IP stack. And just end-run Tails. It HAS happened before. And from the perspective of a single individual, even one completely comitted 100% to the pursuit, and with an extremely (unlikely, but playsible) skill level, arguably cannot "know" or contain complete end to end knowledge of security, at all layers. Obviously, there's the "best effort" and "good enough" and chasing 100% certainty really means: "Just do nothing and don't even connect online." But... if there's any known hardware and chips, or whole devices even that omit uniqe serials & ID's completely that's even better. And ideally the mfg. did it to "be lazy/cheap" rather than "secure/anonymous." Because you can inherently trust that better. As I'm thinking of those FBI honeypot ANOM phones, that they deliberately sold as open-source encrypted & secure marketed to criminals. An extreme case & hyperbole, but conveys the idea. Deliberately marketing things to subvert security (theirs) & provide anonymity, is a target for for being compromised at the root. While random "cheap & lazy" omissions of ID & surveillance tech & DRM is at least statistically random.
Amazing for you to show this how to video. I always wanted more privacy when I travel just in case my laptop gets stolen. The amount of times that has happen is insane. This makes it much better for me to know when I travel. Next travel, I'll set one of these up.
@@behaviortech1080 Tails has a built-in startup script that does MAC spoofing but I still would not use any piece of tech that has been touched before in some way or ever connected to anything. You would also wanna by the computer with cash and pay someone homeless or unknown to you to pick it up if you are extremely paranoid. You could also NEVER use it on your home network or any locations near where you live as that's one of the first locations to be investigated
You can usually disable the microphone and camera by unplugging them from the mainboard. You can also buy a cheap WiFi dongle, and use that instead of the internal card. For about $25, you have disposable OS and WiFi.
@6:16 DUDE, DONT APOLOGIZE OR MAKE DISCLAIMERS ABOUT PRIVACY.. WE'VE GOTTEN TO THE POINT WHERE GOING THE EXTRA MILE TO ENSURE OUR PRIVACY IS LOOKED AT WITH SCRUTINY LIKE WE'RE UP TO SOMETHING ILLEGAL OR CRIMINAL.. DONT MAKE DISCLAIMERS ABOUT THIS.. TELL PEOPLE TO TAKE THEIR PRIVACY BACK AND BE A STRONG ADVOCATOR FOR PRIVACY RIGHTS..
maybe you are missing something, the bios chip are completely vulnerable, you might have in this project the coreboot technologies in the bios chip programming. there are some another vulnerabilities in certain board modules too. thanks for the video and greetings from argetina
@@millcosctd you need to look into it,i cant explain it all,but intel has a contract with the NSA that allows them to place a back door into all of their cpus,and lets them access almost all computers connected to ethernect,weather it is turned on or not
I dont know if youre aware of the Van Eck phreaking which is related to TEMPEST (Telecommunications Electronics Materials Protected from Emanating Spurious Transmissions), where every electronic device that is powered on can by spied upon from a distance using an antenna and special radio receivers revealing whats on the screen of the target. The technique works on pc monitors , old crt tvs, smart tvs(works better), smartphones , SHIELDED usb and hdmi cables (and pretty much any other cable that carries information digital or analogue) and even air gapped machines, and the signal can be received from tens of meters up to hundreds of meters. Scary stuff if you ask me.
Raspberry Pi's are great too because they are tiny and pretty powerful now. You can use Alfa AWUS036ACHM usb Wifi (most Alpha's will support monitor mode I think) /w macchanger and a micro USB for the disk. For the monitor they make these tiny 7" monitors for them but you can just use headless mode and ssh or vnc to it from your PC/Mac. Be sure to cycle it a few times to clear RAM after use.
A camera / microphone can be practical sometimes, what you could do instead is just instead of cutting a wire, you could for example add a switch to the ground of both of theses components, thus separating them from the computer but they can still be used as needed
@@papastuffy this went over your head. If you're making a laptop like this, you DO NOT use a mic/webcam with it. You use a mic/webcam with your "normal" laptop. There is absolutely no need for a webcam/mic for this setup. That's how people get jammed up
the negative comments are hilarious. and very wrong. especially the bad opsec one. ummmm, security is in the name. and this is securing the components of the device that are at risk. why remove a tool from your tool box before you go to do a job? it's just overkill to take it out when you can secure it from the rest of the device. would you take the battery out of a car or add some sort of physical SHUT OFF switch between the battery and the motor? hmmm...
There is one issue with this (with tails) where it doesnt flush your V-RAM so whatever is on your screen at the time you eject the USB can possibly be recovered in chunks, so just be aware of that. (unless this is fixed, idk if its outdated but still good to know)
You forgot the thermite! 😂 I remember being this paranoid back in my teens. Privacy has been dead for 12 years, and they already know you are using tails!!
before I watch the whole video, I would like to say: regardless of what you take out of the system, if the device doesnt have a core2duo or core2quad, or, is librebooted, none of this really matters. It will protect you from other bad actors, but in the case of the government or law enforcement, none of this will matter. The intel management system will own you regardless if there is a camera, and hard drive or not. The only true system for that acts as a ghost system would be a device such as a thinkpad x200, with a core2duo, with the measures like this.
Only data that is retrievable possible… if storage device is removed but device is not powered down… RAM, if I remember correctly phantom like data can be retrieved from live RAM. Other forensic data would obviously be the NIC(s)… this can be worked around by using a usb WiFi or LAN NIC(?)
MAC addresses, wifi network triangulations and RAM YES all snitches on his "GHOTS PC". Not to mention DNS leaks and there are lists of ways to find this device.
@@PedroKing99 what programs would I be looking for to run the siloed container OS? And what do you mean No access to the physical host? 😂 sorry if that’s airheaded I’m not into tech that much, that’s why I thought stripping down laptops to minimize info is the way
SIMPLY REMOVE THE BATTERY AND WHEN YOU "UNPLUG" THE POWER CORD, THE DEVICE CRASHES IMMEDIATELY!!! MY LAPTOP IM USING HAS NO BATTERY, IF I MOVE IT THE WRONG WAY, THE POWER CORD COMES OUT!!!
If you're handy enough, you can install a switch on the mic and camera +5v (+3v?) lines. Also, I'm not sure if tails fixed this yet, but even after shutdown, memory can be frozen and read using compressed air. So beware that it could hold data in RAM unpowered for a while. Law enforcement knows this and if they're after you for data, a fast shutdown might not save you.
What about flashing BIOS with opensource BIOS? Also buying the laptop is a task. Best to find hardware meet ups in a town 2 or 3 towns away and borrowing a friends car or buying. Bus ticket with cash to visit. Buy the laptop via cash. Ive come across situations to buy laptops over the last 10 years using cash and have bought them and sat on them and then peeled. Laptop off the stack. Reconfigured it and used it for a task and then removed the ram, cycled it in another laptop, destroyed the hdd and any flash storage snd either reused it or scrapped it, depending on the task
It feels like you've eliminated data forensic on the computer side but what if someone is watching your computer real time server side, or as the wifi host since that easier to imagine since it's common? How far can you take ghost in this sense? If you combine this with a VPN or running your own servers. Is Linux more secure or is that just how you build the computer (hardware and software)?
@SilverTester sound waves act against the speakercone which moves the voice coil back n forth through the magnetic field of the speakers permanent magnet which causes a ac current to be induced into the voice coil which which can be translated into audio reproduction of whatever sound was strong enough to move the cone...
@@umop3plsdn you say it like its the most normal thing to do in a computer. Maybe mine is retarded, cuz the speakers never show as an option for input. In none of the dozen computers i had over the years. Maybe i should start using my monitor as a webcam.
So if you use that computer can it be traced to your location or is address or can you make a follow up video talking about how “big brother” might try to locate you and either fail or trace back to you..
Swap out the bt/wifi if you've previously used that machine, or if the source of the machine can be traced back to you i.e. you got it from someone you know, or can identify you.
Thought I remember reading that there is a very small window of info when you shut down your computer that ram does save a kinda last state type thing, and if you shut off while say looking at an unsavoury page that is burned in and forensics can find that
Intel Management Engines make all intel CPUs post-2015 kinda moot in a security sense technically. AMD has a version too and im sure apple didnt stop with M chips. 🤔
I really like it to see your video. I did it before with instructions from other people but if I think like I’m new to this stuff, I would only need this video to do it.
Hardware back door in the CPU. IIRC, The most recent Intel CPU not backdoored in this was the Intel Atom series built around 2009-2013. Until you deal with that issue, all you're really doing is down grading a laptop and giving yourself a false sense of security.
I disagree. This is supposed to be a burner type laptop where everything that you need is in that flash drive. Almost as if it’s a thin client. Nothing should be stored anywhere. Everything will be operating off temporary memory.
@@GhostStrats "Intel Active Management Technology" is *hardware and firmware* for remote out-of-band management of select business computers,[1][2] running on the Intel Management Engine, a microprocessor subsystem *not exposed to the user, intended for monitoring*, maintenance, updating, and repairing systems.[1] Its on wikipedia. You could be monitored in real time from the hardware level without your knowledge. becasue you disable the camera and microphone they might not see you face of hear you voice, but a third party could see everything you're doing on that laptop.
Depending on how you type, like how your fingers press each key can also identify you. With the rise of AI companies can do keyboard typing forensic profiles on individuals now. Scary stuff out there…
@@victorygarden556 Raspberry Pi has "binary blobs" which is unknown proprietary driver code inside it, so you don't know whats in there, ie not secure.
some things can be saved to either the cpu gpu and even the bios in some cases some advanced viruss can store them selves on those components wich are very tricky to fix so the might be an issue
What about you MAC address? It is always interrogated by websites. How do we reprogram it or block it? Where do we find a secure source of Tails Linux? Knowing about the camera and microphone I have added switches to turn them off but what about the speakers? Theoretically a speaker works like a dynamic microphone but with a different impedance. I could be quite possible for manufacturers to place a circuit within the laptop that would allow the speakers to double as microphones knowing that most secure conscious individuals would disable or remove the microphone. There would not be a way to use the speakers as microphones however if they are playing music at the same time.
Tell me brother. Can you do this also with a phone? Disable mic and camera. Remove internal storage and install os on memory card? Or if possible is a video also incomming? Thanks
Probably want to make sure the unit you have doesn’t have an IMEI, remove the WiFi card (use a usb dongle that can easily be physically removed instead).
Rip the camera and audio out, if you can install libreboot/coreboot on it and install qubes OS as the main os then make sure to follow opsec as you go... Its really sad we have to do this much just to not get seen by a government agency
This is great in terms of hardware, but it's not really practical when it comes to some machines. Dell laptops always had unobtrusive mode and kernel level option to disable cam/mic/wwan/other. Some ThinkPads had physical kill switches and some other manufacturers have complete privacy integrations with options. I know bios/UEFI level stuff can have vulnerabilities/backdoors, but there's always a solution for them.
also i guess you could desing maybe with a rpi pico or a arduino nano a simple flash drive that allow for storage but like just with a press of a button it just replace every bit of the drive to nonsense.
That is an incredibly cool concept. The first thing that came to my mind was the Framework laptops to "natively" support this - just buy the laptop without internal storage and have a couple of storage expansion slots to boot from, with whatever OS you prefer. Any thoughts on that?
Thank you very much for telling me this. I’m gonna look into framework laptops. And I don’t seem like a good idea, but the whole idea is if it was to get compromised anyway if you were to leave it somewhere, you don’t want anything that has any data to store at all. The concept for this device is more or less a burner laptop. It all for educational purposes only this is an experiment that I wanted to try.
@@GhostStrats If you don't know Framework I would suggest you look into them, it's worthwhile just for the concept behind their laptop. Basically you get a configurable laptop with 4 USB-C expansion slots where you can plug in whatever you want (there are already pre-made modules from Framework but I saw some custom one made already). The idea was to have one of the storage expansion module be the bootable drive with Tails, Kali or any other OS all self-contained just like in the USB stick used in this experiment, with no other storage at all in the laptop. Without that expansion module it would basically be a burner laptop, with the additional benefit of having bigger (this is arguably not a benefit) and faster storage while also being able to also use the laptop as a "normal" laptop, as you can just install Windows (or any other OS you daily drive) in another module and use it when needed. TL,DR: you make one module a live OS installation to run just like if it was in a USB stick and another module with a properly installed OS that acts as your daily driver
What about MAC addresses? I'm not much of an IT Admin, but I can see all the device MAC addresses that access my network..... How do you get around that?
i fully appreciate this content, subscribed 10 seconds into the vid. Love to see privacy vids like this. do you have a degoogled phone video or are we just using prepaid trac phones?
Technically it’s possible to freeze information in the ram. I read somewhere that some hacker got busted when he was unable to pull out the flash drive and the feds or whoever froze ram with liquid nitrogen and recovered the info from it later.
This can be compromised. Just because it deletes everything off the computer in the end because of it saving to ram doesn’t mean anything when you’re putting a memory stick in it that can have malicious software injected into it by operating system vulnerabilities. On top of that it doesn’t protect your IP, Device footprint/fingerprint. Also if the FEDs get your USB welp there ya go. With a compromise memory unit that you said it basically the whole computer. Every time you plug it in to run it can exploit your location
It's a cool project. I'm curious how is that different than just booting up tails from usb stick. I understand the camera being cut but why the hard drive ?
There are some very rare virus that can infect motherboards (even without a hard drive). Malware planted in the UEFI firmware image is not only difficult to identify but is also extremely persistent as it cannot be removed by reinstalling the operating system or by replacing the storage drive.
@@TheTubejunkyGenerally if you pull out the usb drive running tails os from the machine, it triggers an immediate secure shutdown. It's meant to be like a ripchord, so as soon as you pull the usb drive it starts wiping the RAM using using sdmem so you will leave no trace. It might corrupt some files on the persistent storage but your data will be safe since the entire ram is overwritten with random data several times to prevent memory dump attacks. Well at least that what they say.
So wouldn't the boot drive that you use, as a flash drive, be corrupted after so many unplugs? I mean it is a boot drive.. but its also a flash drive so mi sure it'd have safe-unplug on it. I'm just a little concerned about the whole corruptibility for the drive. Also, I was wondering if there isn't anything traceable on the laptop, wouldn't there be a bunch of traceable things on the flash drive? I mean there isn't nothing wrong with resetting the flash drive with a clean install every time but still its not entirely 100% untraceable
It's sad that nowadays just wanting to have privacy is somehow seen as doing something wrong. This is nothing you should be ashamed of simply because you have right to be secured in your articles and belongings.
Great video.
Yeah, and use cash only. Unregistered SIM cards, fake IDs, multiple passports with different names🙃. Yeah bro privacy for sure. That’s why Feds are suspicious. Why would you be private if you have nothing to hide mentality.
If you’re goin to this length you are clearly hiding something.
@@PromptshotSilence FED!
@@budderman3rd lul he’s not wrong
@@cube22111 silence FED
Technically you can still pull off the ram depending on the time... CIA have pulled data of ram before... To be 100% secure you need to cycle the ram so it writes back over... secondly it's not a ghost computer because it still has a physical MAC address, so can be tied to activity online. The next stage is to rip the wifi and rip the lan out of the laptop then use a USB wifi or lan that will allow you to spoof the mac address and leave the original mac address in the machine which is what they will look for to tie it to online activity.
Thank you
yea i remember reading something like this. RAM can still be used to extract data
@@GhostStrats you know nothing lmfao
I was going to say, I’ve ripped data off RAM before. This is far from stealth
@@dbffbbfs You would need to write a program that writes garbage data to the ram on shutdown... Or run memtest on the ram before shutting down... depends how illegal your activities are or how likely you are to be compromised... I used to use truecrypt years ago until they suddenly vanished... I had 128 bit and 256 bit encryption on drives which were impossible to crack... turns out the CIA cracked some truecrypt drives that were used by like some serious people... I'm no longer in a situation where I need this sort of protection anymore... But back in the day I had everything, dummy jpgs with hidden data in them, dummy system files which were actually complete drives with windows loaded on but only looked like 1bit sys files in windows... I was in deep lol
well well well, the 15 laptops I have laying around collecting dust are here for a reason
YES!!!
@@GhostStrats I have a question though. You say nothing is stored on the device but Im guessing this doesnt include hardware unique identifiers like a CPU cause they (im guessing) are stored in the same place where the BIOS is stored? This could technically mean you could be identified still, but it would make it a LOT harder?
@@anglerfish61 Your concern for privacy is valid, but a clarification: the BIOS chip (EEPROM) primarily stores the boot order and firmware, not the unique identifiers. These identifiers are stored in dedicated areas on the CPU or RAM and pose less of a privacy risk compared to potential backdoors or malicious code in closed-source BIOS/UEFI firmware. Since these proprietary systems can’t be fully audited, alternatives like LibreBoot or Coreboot offer more privacy, though they lack support for newer hardware. And yes you are right that it could be much more harder to track you in this case.
@@anglerfish61 Wanted to answer you since i didn't see a reply :)
You raise a valid point. Unique hardware identifiers like the CPU, device IDs, or the information stored in the BIOS can theoretically be used to identify a device. However, these identifiers are typically not accessible or used by everyday applications for tracking users directly. For example, web-based applications generally don't have direct access to low-level hardware identifiers due to the layers of security and privacy safeguards.
That being said, it is still possible for advanced tracking techniques or targeted attacks to use a combination of such identifiers and other data to attempt to re-identify a device. But, as you mentioned, this makes it significantly more challenging.
If you're concerned about privacy and tracking, it's always a good idea to stay updated on security practices, use privacy-focused tools, and be mindful of the permissions you grant to applications.
If you have any specific privacy or security concerns you'd like to discuss further, feel free to ask!
God cares for you and jesus loves you have a blessed day :)
@@anglerfish61not after I hardware hack it and modify the strings
"I do not condone legal activity."
Now that's one bold statement, right there.
couldnt believe my eyes when i saw it
He had to cut the “I” out of the word because of demonitization rules
"Woa thats a lot of words... too bad im not reading em" lmao
I think what you are best at is showing the hardware side of cyber security, keep that up, I love the style you have with the glow in the dark, looks really neat.
For those not technically inclined on the hardware side, or those that don't want the hassle of tearing up a laptop, you can do the exact same thing using a THIN CLIENT like the HP T620 or similar thin clients. They don't have a camera or microphone. Obviously not as portable, but the idea is still there, and they only pull 15 watts of power at idle. :)
Very good point!
@@GhostStrats Just a suggestion, make a video showing a setup of a thin client, they are dirt cheap on Ebay, RAM is easily upgradable and inexpensive as they usually use SODIMM.
A second suggestion... for people who aren't hackers, but ARE concerned about privacy, make a video explaining from a "noob" point of view, the differences in stealth OSs, what makes one better than another, how to use TOR safely, again, through the eyes of a new viewer who wants to be safe and anonymous, so it would need to be a step by step tutorial, it might be long or in multiple parts, but it would help a lot of people.
I have 35 years in IT, I am too tired and in ill health to make videos myself, but it would be great if you ran with it. :)
@@GhostStrats yours looks alot cooler i bet.
@@jacquesredmondYes excellent recommendation I second this 100%🤠👍
I agree on both points@@jacquesredmond
It will save lives for the next 4 years. For those who know, they will understand this is a gem.
Have a great day, and Happy Christmas.
You know the most loved thing about your content is my brother, is your intuitive way of explaining key information. You are helping all of us grow with you, and your hardware engineering is magnificent. Nothing needs to look good it just needs to work, and in some cases be practical. Damn I almost forgot to mention that it’s nice to snip extra wire incase you wanted to setup a remote device for ta… I mean home security. :)
lol 😂 thank you very much for those kind words. I really appreciate comments like this thank you!!!
We are not brothers, I’m an only child (adopted)
Don't forget about the MAC addresses in the BT/Wifi chipset and similar footprints.
DNS leaks, HARDWARE MACS, WIFI TRIAGULATIONS, and ANY networks that the adapter has ALREADY connected to will be a crumb trail! He's trying hard to sound "TECHY"
He better enabled the MAC spoofing choice in Tails
Your Mac address can be changed.
I am concerned that hardware ID's, the permanent MAC or other serialized unique identifiers could still be compromised through low level hardware-layer attacks, or other lower parts of the TCP/IP stack. And just end-run Tails.
It HAS happened before. And from the perspective of a single individual, even one completely comitted 100% to the pursuit, and with an extremely (unlikely, but playsible) skill level, arguably cannot "know" or contain complete end to end knowledge of security, at all layers.
Obviously, there's the "best effort" and "good enough" and chasing 100% certainty really means: "Just do nothing and don't even connect online."
But... if there's any known hardware and chips, or whole devices even that omit uniqe serials & ID's completely that's even better. And ideally the mfg. did it to "be lazy/cheap" rather than "secure/anonymous." Because you can inherently trust that better.
As I'm thinking of those FBI honeypot ANOM phones, that they deliberately sold as open-source encrypted & secure marketed to criminals. An extreme case & hyperbole, but conveys the idea. Deliberately marketing things to subvert security (theirs) & provide anonymity, is a target for for being compromised at the root. While random "cheap & lazy" omissions of ID & surveillance tech & DRM is at least statistically random.
@@HellsingGhrey-ht2wgspoofed is not the same as "changed".
Amazing for you to show this how to video. I always wanted more privacy when I travel just in case my laptop gets stolen. The amount of times that has happen is insane. This makes it much better for me to know when I travel. Next travel, I'll set one of these up.
You can also remove the wifi card and buy a separate one, it looks just like a normal usb drive and costs like 15-20 euros.
That’s awesome. Next time I’m gonna have to consider this.
Okay this answers my question…the wifi card is going to give you your MAC address right? Also wouldn’t you want to spoof your MAC address?
The fact he didn't already know this means he's a noob
@@behaviortech1080 Tails has a built-in startup script that does MAC spoofing but I still would not use any piece of tech that has been touched before in some way or ever connected to anything. You would also wanna by the computer with cash and pay someone homeless or unknown to you to pick it up if you are extremely paranoid. You could also NEVER use it on your home network or any locations near where you live as that's one of the first locations to be investigated
@@behaviortech1080 Tails comes with MAC spoofing, so as long he has it enabled he should be fine.
Dude you've helped me a lot you have no idea! I've been having trouble staying home. Buy you've peaked my interest! Thanks
You can usually disable the microphone and camera by unplugging them from the mainboard. You can also buy a cheap WiFi dongle, and use that instead of the internal card. For about $25, you have disposable OS and WiFi.
None of that, does anything. Extra steps for nothing. TAILS is enough. Pull usb, it wipes. You guys are brain dead in this community
SOC. Add the physical components you want. Connect the peripherals you want. They boot off flash, by design. Portable, often with battery power. Etc.
Link?
@6:16 DUDE, DONT APOLOGIZE OR MAKE DISCLAIMERS ABOUT PRIVACY.. WE'VE GOTTEN TO THE POINT WHERE GOING THE EXTRA MILE TO ENSURE OUR PRIVACY IS LOOKED AT WITH SCRUTINY LIKE WE'RE UP TO SOMETHING ILLEGAL OR CRIMINAL.. DONT MAKE DISCLAIMERS ABOUT THIS.. TELL PEOPLE TO TAKE THEIR PRIVACY BACK AND BE A STRONG ADVOCATOR FOR PRIVACY RIGHTS..
100 percent agree.
God Bless you Brother 🇺🇸🇺🇸 Nobody realizes it but you are the future. The truth. A real revolutionary. Thank you ⚔️🙏🙏
All God my friend I’m just along for the ride. Thank you for your kindness
should put coreboot for bios replacement too theres backdoors in the bios
Wow man this is really easy to digest and also great helpful info ..awesome video once again def gained a subscriber 👌💯
maybe you are missing something, the bios chip are completely vulnerable, you might have in this project the coreboot technologies in the bios chip programming. there are some another vulnerabilities in certain board modules too. thanks for the video and greetings from argetina
Thatsz all hard-coded/programmed,hardware/software!
@@knrz2562 not the bios
Didn't get the tracker placed in the CPU as a backdoor for the NSA
mossad n unit8200
Why is no one answering bro
And what are their trackers?
@@millcosctd you need to look into it,i cant explain it all,but intel has a contract with the NSA that allows them to place a back door into all of their cpus,and lets them access almost all computers connected to ethernect,weather it is turned on or not
@millcosctd IME in Intel CPUs, supposedly can be abused but I haven't done much research
I dont know if youre aware of the Van Eck phreaking which is related to TEMPEST (Telecommunications Electronics Materials Protected from Emanating Spurious Transmissions), where every electronic device that is powered on can by spied upon from a distance using an antenna and special radio receivers revealing whats on the screen of the target. The technique works on pc monitors , old crt tvs, smart tvs(works better), smartphones , SHIELDED usb and hdmi cables (and pretty much any other cable that carries information digital or analogue) and even air gapped machines, and the signal can be received from tens of meters up to hundreds of meters. Scary stuff if you ask me.
ME THINK THAT YOU USE TO OWN A "CONSUMERTRONICS " CATALOG AND READ HIS PAPERS!!!
Someone’s doing that to my phone, pissing me off 📱 🤬 😅
This showed up in my recommended, and I understand nothing, but I find this oddly peaceful
i was expecting some lazy content with an AI voice and some barebones instructions from chatGPT but this is wayy better, thanks
6:18 "I do not condond **legal** activity " - ahahahhahaha
Raspberry Pi's are great too because they are tiny and pretty powerful now. You can use Alfa AWUS036ACHM usb Wifi (most Alpha's will support monitor mode I think) /w macchanger and a micro USB for the disk. For the monitor they make these tiny 7" monitors for them but you can just use headless mode and ssh or vnc to it from your PC/Mac. Be sure to cycle it a few times to clear RAM after use.
didn't know i needed this until i saw it.
A camera / microphone can be practical sometimes, what you could do instead is just instead of cutting a wire, you could for example add a switch to the ground of both of theses components, thus separating them from the computer but they can still be used as needed
I think you missed the point.
TL;DR: if you need a webcam/mic, this setup isn't for you.
Point is you don't use your daily driver for this, EVER. If you can't figure out why, pay attention.
Bad opsec
@@papastuffy this went over your head. If you're making a laptop like this, you DO NOT use a mic/webcam with it. You use a mic/webcam with your "normal" laptop. There is absolutely no need for a webcam/mic for this setup. That's how people get jammed up
the negative comments are hilarious. and very wrong. especially the bad opsec one. ummmm, security is in the name. and this is securing the components of the device that are at risk. why remove a tool from your tool box before you go to do a job? it's just overkill to take it out when you can secure it from the rest of the device. would you take the battery out of a car or add some sort of physical SHUT OFF switch between the battery and the motor? hmmm...
There is one issue with this (with tails) where it doesnt flush your V-RAM so whatever is on your screen at the time you eject the USB can possibly be recovered in chunks, so just be aware of that. (unless this is fixed, idk if its outdated but still good to know)
You forgot the thermite! 😂 I remember being this paranoid back in my teens. Privacy has been dead for 12 years, and they already know you are using tails!!
hey man, you're gonna be the next network chuck, keep it up, really love your videos, can't believe you don't get more views
He will have to push sponsored content and sell coffee
Let's hope he can be better, and considerably less cringe with the friggin coffee.
Network chuck… I swear bros a sham
@@Frosty_Q-T That's the truth
@@brandonw1604 to be real that jerk says a lot of crap that would in turn actually make you noticed and stick out more when trying to clean
before I watch the whole video, I would like to say: regardless of what you take out of the system, if the device doesnt have a core2duo or core2quad, or, is librebooted, none of this really matters. It will protect you from other bad actors, but in the case of the government or law enforcement, none of this will matter. The intel management system will own you regardless if there is a camera, and hard drive or not. The only true system for that acts as a ghost system would be a device such as a thinkpad x200, with a core2duo, with the measures like this.
I have my Alienware m17x Laptop from 2008 and I have tails on it. I paid $2,150 when I first bought it.
Only data that is retrievable possible… if storage device is removed but device is not powered down… RAM, if I remember correctly phantom like data can be retrieved from live RAM.
Other forensic data would obviously be the NIC(s)… this can be worked around by using a usb WiFi or LAN NIC(?)
MAC addresses, wifi network triangulations and RAM YES all snitches on his "GHOTS PC". Not to mention DNS leaks and there are lists of ways to find this device.
@@TheTubejunky yes MAC addresses from various nic. You can run a virtual OS containerized with no access to the physical host… this is also helpful .
@@PedroKing99 what programs would I be looking for to run the siloed container OS? And what do you mean No access to the physical host? 😂 sorry if that’s airheaded I’m not into tech that much, that’s why I thought stripping down laptops to minimize info is the way
SIMPLY REMOVE THE BATTERY AND WHEN YOU "UNPLUG" THE POWER CORD, THE DEVICE CRASHES IMMEDIATELY!!!
MY LAPTOP IM USING HAS NO BATTERY, IF I MOVE IT THE WRONG WAY, THE POWER CORD COMES OUT!!!
If you're handy enough, you can install a switch on the mic and camera +5v (+3v?) lines.
Also, I'm not sure if tails fixed this yet, but even after shutdown, memory can be frozen and read using compressed air. So beware that it could hold data in RAM unpowered for a while. Law enforcement knows this and if they're after you for data, a fast shutdown might not save you.
needs a battery kill switch and then to hold the regular power button to clear, maybe even eject the cmos just in case
You also HAVE to change the processor bits to disable tracking and storage.
What about flashing BIOS with opensource BIOS?
Also buying the laptop is a task. Best to find hardware meet ups in a town 2 or 3 towns away and borrowing a friends car or buying. Bus ticket with cash to visit. Buy the laptop via cash.
Ive come across situations to buy laptops over the last 10 years using cash and have bought them and sat on them and then peeled. Laptop off the stack. Reconfigured it and used it for a task and then removed the ram, cycled it in another laptop, destroyed the hdd and any flash storage snd either reused it or scrapped it, depending on the task
This is soo cool to use but can we do it also in other laptop manufacturers? For example macOs or Lenovo?
Thank you once again for this educational info and once again I love my Tails
It feels like you've eliminated data forensic on the computer side but what if someone is watching your computer real time server side, or as the wifi host since that easier to imagine since it's common? How far can you take ghost in this sense? If you combine this with a VPN or running your own servers. Is Linux more secure or is that just how you build the computer (hardware and software)?
The Speakers are also microphones... And you may as well take out the polarizing film so nobody can read your screen without hacker glasses you make.
Excuse me, HOW are the speakers also microphones?? Care to explain?
@SilverTester sound waves act against the speakercone which moves the voice coil back n forth through the magnetic field of the speakers permanent magnet which causes a ac current to be induced into the voice coil which which can be translated into audio reproduction of whatever sound was strong enough to move the cone...
@@gayshawndayleequeef1946 that's.. way beyond next level. So there's software that can pick up these shifts and reconstitute voice records? Damn!
@@SilverTester you can actually use a speaker as a microphone yourself try it sometime
@@umop3plsdn you say it like its the most normal thing to do in a computer. Maybe mine is retarded, cuz the speakers never show as an option for input. In none of the dozen computers i had over the years. Maybe i should start using my monitor as a webcam.
So if you use that computer can it be traced to your location or is address or can you make a follow up video talking about how “big brother” might try to locate you and either fail or trace back to you..
i guess you could make an makeshift portable display with an old laptop and get a raspery pi with a lot of ram to get a very portable build.
Thumbs up and comment left for the sake of algorithm favoritism. Good luck
Swap out the bt/wifi if you've previously used that machine, or if the source of the machine can be traced back to you i.e. you got it from someone you know, or can identify you.
Thought I remember reading that there is a very small window of info when you shut down your computer that ram does save a kinda last state type thing, and if you shut off while say looking at an unsavoury page that is burned in and forensics can find that
RAM stores credentials short term but no memory to view files if logged in? Or no? Sorry just thinking this out loud as well
Intel Management Engines make all intel CPUs post-2015 kinda moot in a security sense technically. AMD has a version too and im sure apple didnt stop with M chips. 🤔
I really like it to see your video. I did it before with instructions from other people but if I think like I’m new to this stuff, I would only need this video to do it.
Hardware back door in the CPU. IIRC, The most recent Intel CPU not backdoored in this was the Intel Atom series built around 2009-2013. Until you deal with that issue, all you're really doing is down grading a laptop and giving yourself a false sense of security.
I disagree. This is supposed to be a burner type laptop where everything that you need is in that flash drive. Almost as if it’s a thin client. Nothing should be stored anywhere. Everything will be operating off temporary memory.
@@GhostStrats
"Intel Active Management Technology"
is *hardware and firmware* for remote out-of-band management of select business computers,[1][2] running on the Intel Management Engine, a microprocessor subsystem *not exposed to the user, intended for monitoring*, maintenance, updating, and repairing systems.[1]
Its on wikipedia.
You could be monitored in real time from the hardware level without your knowledge.
becasue you disable the camera and microphone they might not see you face of hear you voice, but a third party could see everything you're doing on that laptop.
Depending on how you type, like how your fingers press each key can also identify you. With the rise of AI companies can do keyboard typing forensic profiles on individuals now. Scary stuff out there…
@@karlsnowsill208 can I do this stuff with a raspberry pi to make it easier for a non techie? I just want secure comms
@@victorygarden556 Raspberry Pi has "binary blobs" which is unknown proprietary driver code inside it, so you don't know whats in there, ie not secure.
some things can be saved to either the cpu gpu and even the bios in some cases some advanced viruss can store them selves on those components wich are very tricky to fix so the might be an issue
What about you MAC address? It is always interrogated by websites. How do we reprogram it or block it? Where do we find a secure source of Tails Linux? Knowing about the camera and microphone I have added switches to turn them off but what about the speakers? Theoretically a speaker works like a dynamic microphone but with a different impedance. I could be quite possible for manufacturers to place a circuit within the laptop that would allow the speakers to double as microphones knowing that most secure conscious individuals would disable or remove the microphone. There would not be a way to use the speakers as microphones however if they are playing music at the same time.
Tails have MAC spoofing.
@@dseednorwayn47 Sweet!
@@dseednorwayn47 I was just about to say that 😂
One thing can't you just take the wifi card out too and just have an external wifi adapter? Also is there a way to do this on chromebooks? cheap.
Tell me brother.
Can you do this also with a phone?
Disable mic and camera.
Remove internal storage and install os on memory card?
Or if possible is a video also incomming?
Thanks
I wanna know as well^^
Probably want to make sure the unit you have doesn’t have an IMEI, remove the WiFi card (use a usb dongle that can easily be physically removed instead).
Perfect video, ty
Rip the camera and audio out, if you can install libreboot/coreboot on it and install qubes OS as the main os then make sure to follow opsec as you go... Its really sad we have to do this much just to not get seen by a government agency
This is so kool, i had no idea ppl could do things like this, super cool
You can cut the cable or disconnect the ribbon cable on the MB like normal people do!
You are underrated ❤
Thank you I really do appreciate stuff like this
@GhostStrats Will wait for Big Videos 📹
I mean, by the hardware site it is anonymus, but the Internet traffic will not be removed. they can always find out who you are by your ip address
Not if you use different exit IPs and proxy chain
Can you create a guide on how to make/where to buy sunglasses that tricks CCTV facial recognition software please?
I saw someone on Dread selling these sunglasses. Just wanted to make sure they're real.
This is great in terms of hardware, but it's not really practical when it comes to some machines. Dell laptops always had unobtrusive mode and kernel level option to disable cam/mic/wwan/other. Some ThinkPads had physical kill switches and some other manufacturers have complete privacy integrations with options. I know bios/UEFI level stuff can have vulnerabilities/backdoors, but there's always a solution for them.
i did the same thing 3 years ago also if you encrypt the main drive you don't have to worry about removing the the ssd or hard drive.
So does the thumb drives in the link come preloaded with the Tails OS already?
Whats the name of the card where you hide your SD? I can not find it on internet to buy
also i guess you could desing maybe with a rpi pico or a arduino nano a simple flash drive that allow for storage but like just with a press of a button it just replace every bit of the drive to nonsense.
very cool demo my friend, thank you
🙏
Fyi, speakers can get used as a microphone, look into it
Thank you
cool bro. very nice
That is an incredibly cool concept. The first thing that came to my mind was the Framework laptops to "natively" support this - just buy the laptop without internal storage and have a couple of storage expansion slots to boot from, with whatever OS you prefer. Any thoughts on that?
Thank you very much for telling me this. I’m gonna look into framework laptops. And I don’t seem like a good idea, but the whole idea is if it was to get compromised anyway if you were to leave it somewhere, you don’t want anything that has any data to store at all.
The concept for this device is more or less a burner laptop. It all for educational purposes only this is an experiment that I wanted to try.
@@GhostStrats If you don't know Framework I would suggest you look into them, it's worthwhile just for the concept behind their laptop.
Basically you get a configurable laptop with 4 USB-C expansion slots where you can plug in whatever you want (there are already pre-made modules from Framework but I saw some custom one made already). The idea was to have one of the storage expansion module be the bootable drive with Tails, Kali or any other OS all self-contained just like in the USB stick used in this experiment, with no other storage at all in the laptop.
Without that expansion module it would basically be a burner laptop, with the additional benefit of having bigger (this is arguably not a benefit) and faster storage while also being able to also use the laptop as a "normal" laptop, as you can just install Windows (or any other OS you daily drive) in another module and use it when needed.
TL,DR: you make one module a live OS installation to run just like if it was in a USB stick and another module with a properly installed OS that acts as your daily driver
Surprised nobody mentioned raspberry Pi, data allocation on an sd card and linux os has good privacy and ram flush
What about MAC addresses?
I'm not much of an IT Admin, but I can see all the device MAC addresses that access my network.....
How do you get around that?
I don´t need one but now i want one.
as i understand it your cpu is traceable through the intel management engine and the system it self can be fingerprinted
where did you buy that sd credit card coll thing i want it
How about NIC card and MAC address? How do you obfuscate those?
U have to do the oposite of this guy
I don't need this, but I think it's pretty cool that it can be done,
You're not supposed to just unplug a flash drive. That being said, I've been using Tails for years - it's a great distro!
speakers can also be used as microphones. clip the wires, or wire them with a removable headphone jack
awesome video love the channel
Thank you 🙏
mwuahaha awesome stuff brother, stay ghost - stay safe :)
Thanks man I appreciate that
Can you do it to a tablet or ipad though though...
So I’m assuming it will wipe internet history too? I’m about to start IT school and I don’t know too much yet.
Good luck mate 😬
@ thanks, gulp. 😬
Tails os is onion no stored internet history to begin with
@ nice, thank you for being helpful.
i fully appreciate this content, subscribed 10 seconds into the vid. Love to see privacy vids like this. do you have a degoogled phone video or are we just using prepaid trac phones?
Technically it’s possible to freeze information in the ram. I read somewhere that some hacker got busted when he was unable to pull out the flash drive and the feds or whoever froze ram with liquid nitrogen and recovered the info from it later.
yup, as far as I know, they carry liquid nitrogen as everyday equipment, on belt, close to handcuffs...
😂😂😂😂
This can be compromised. Just because it deletes everything off the computer in the end because of it saving to ram doesn’t mean anything when you’re putting a memory stick in it that can have malicious software injected into it by operating system vulnerabilities. On top of that it doesn’t protect your IP, Device footprint/fingerprint. Also if the FEDs get your USB welp there ya go. With a compromise memory unit that you said it basically the whole computer. Every time you plug it in to run it can exploit your location
It's a cool project.
I'm curious how is that different than just booting up tails from usb stick. I understand the camera being cut but why the hard drive ?
So no malicious programs can be ever installed without your knowledge
There are some very rare virus that can infect motherboards (even without a hard drive). Malware planted in the UEFI firmware image is not only difficult to identify but is also extremely persistent as it cannot be removed by reinstalling the operating system or by replacing the storage drive.
Just earned a follow love your content keep it going !!!
What tools would I need to disassemble my laptop and remove the hard drive?
Just did the same a few month back from two old lap tops. Runs Tails smooth with 16gb ram.
RAM = SAVES DATA
so for him to say "EVERYTHING IS GONE WHEN I UNPLUG THIS USB OS" is bs
@@TheTubejunkyGenerally if you pull out the usb drive running tails os from the machine, it triggers an immediate secure shutdown. It's meant to be like a ripchord, so as soon as you pull the usb drive it starts wiping the RAM using using sdmem so you will leave no trace. It might corrupt some files on the persistent storage but your data will be safe since the entire ram is overwritten with random data several times to prevent memory dump attacks. Well at least that what they say.
Was that small chip the wlan mac chip?
Love this
This should be part of your Escape plan to leave the stadium before the 7th inning.
So wouldn't the boot drive that you use, as a flash drive, be corrupted after so many unplugs? I mean it is a boot drive.. but its also a flash drive so mi sure it'd have safe-unplug on it. I'm just a little concerned about the whole corruptibility for the drive. Also, I was wondering if there isn't anything traceable on the laptop, wouldn't there be a bunch of traceable things on the flash drive? I mean there isn't nothing wrong with resetting the flash drive with a clean install every time but still its not entirely 100% untraceable
so the usb dx can be setup not to save anything?
called persistent something as soon as you open tor connection up. Don't enable.
I was thinking about this the other day but instead using a smartphone instead, would that be possible?
I just use vms which i hosted in an external hdd, i have debian based and arch linux vms... You can also do whonix....
ahhh The first amendtment power of the word would.. I found my place.
My hero!