Solitary Island

Ubuntu Privacy Remix is a solitary island among distributions. Isolated from the outside world, it is well protected against attacks, but in the long term, it's only suitable for Robinson Crusoe types in the private sector. Even if you can do without a hard drive thanks to the encrypted USB solution, the lack of Internet access makes normal communication with the outside world very difficult.

A solution is to use another USB stick with a Live system that has Internet access, or even a second computer. For the previous version of UPR, 10.04r3, a dual-boot DVD offers the Tails distribution for anonymous surfing with Tor, which is a partial solution.

The small group of people who manage sensitive data without the need for special software or the Internet is well served with UPR, however. Security researcher Bruce Schneier uses a similar solution  [1]: "If I want to transfer a file, I encrypt the file on the secure computer and walk it over to my Internet computer, using a USB stick." Armed with two USB sticks, it does not matter which computer you work on. Infected documents can be viewed without any worries, because the malware never touches your disk.

Even for smaller companies, the use of UPR could be worthwhile if they need special software and the programs do not retrieve data from a CRM or groupware, as is often the case in a corporate environment. Customer records, including credit card information, would be collected on the Internet but could then be split: The sensitive data could be managed securely on a computer without Internet access, while the communication data resides on computers and servers with network access. Also, bills, cost accounting data, or strategic planning data could be managed on such a computer.

Ubuntu Privacy Remix presents a radical solution to the problem of computer security that requires a whole new orientation. Indeed, working without the Internet or a conventional hard drive would be completely foreign to most modern computer users. However, the reasons for operating in this kind of isolation are well known to security experts and well documented in recent headlines. If you are serious about security and you are ready for a new approach to the daily business of working with your computer, try the Ubuntu Privacy Remix.