Category: Privacy & Encryption

Letter Re: TOR and the Onion Networks

The Onion Routing (TOR or Tor) project is one of the best ways to stay anonymous on the web. The project was initially funded by the Navy, but over a few years evolved into a non-profit organization. The goal of the TOR project is twofold: to allow for the anonymous browsing of the internet, and to allow people to connect to the .onion network. This is a basic illustration of how it works is this. Lets say every internet site you visit is a store front in a basic town. You go in and out of stores in the daylight. …


Letter Re: COMSEC, Bitcoin, and Ironkey Thumb Drives

James, I took notice of the malware warning in your blog regarding  Bitcoin and some of the suggestions to thwart it. I’d like to throw my 2 cents in and suggest your readers check out  ironkey.com Ironkey makes a thumb drive that is like no other device on the market. I just bought one and I love it. I will describe what it does and why your readers may want to consider getting one as part of their COMSEC arsenal. I purchased the 16 GB model and the cost including delivery was $228. Yes, that is expensive, but wait until …


Letter Re: IP Address Finding Software

Dear Mr. Rawles: Gibson Research Corporation offers a free [PC] utility called ID Serve that will quickly tell the user the IP address of any web site, as well as some other info.  It can also look up the domain name using the IP address.  This is useful to help SurvivalBlog readers find the numerical IP for their favorite web sites in case of domain name mischief at the hands of government or private hackers.  IP Serve can be downloaded here free of charge. (As a bonus, it is tiny–just 26 kbytes–and fast. It is not “bloatware”). – Sincerely, D.V.B.


Letter Re: Linux and Computer Security

Dear Mr. Rawles, As always, I thank you for your work and send greetings and blessings to you. I just switched from using Windows Vista to Ubuntu Linux 10.10 on my Laptop. First, I must say I am delighted at the ease of installation and how everything works immediately. Second, I am delighted that my Windows Vista partition of the hard disk continues to work just as it always had. No loss of data nor of function. When I began using Linux, I looked into security and learned that there is no firewall immediately installed. It is easy and free …


Three Letters Re: Bypassing the Internet Kill Switch

Hello Mr. Rawles! Long time reader here, but had taken a break from most blogs for almost a year as I focused on generating alternative sources of income. I have an important question for you. How will we access the Internet after the government shuts off “the switch“? Would we still have access via dial up possibly? I’m on broadband now and its been a long time since I’ve used dial up service. I’ve used Ubuntu Linux the past 4, almost 5 years now and I know many old dial up modems do not work well in Linux/ (At least …


SurvivalBlog’s IP Address — A Modest Insurance Policy

We post SurvivalBlog’s IP address (also referred to as a “dotted quad” or IPv4 address) as a sort of insurance policy. Recent events have proven that a government agency or a malicious hacker can fairly easily seize or hijack a domain name. This has already happened to at least 75 U.S. web sites without due process of law. Their DNS records were changed, essentially erasing them from the “phone books of the Internet.” To insure against this, we are distributing our IPv4 address. This can be pasted or typed into a web browser window in place of “survivalblog.com” What you …


Two Letters Re: OPSEC Issue: Geotagging on Pictures from Smart Phones

Hello Mr. Rawles, I just got a link to a New York Times article about geotagging through Michael Yon’s web site, but with the New York Times date of August 11 2010, you may have seen this already. Regards, Albert U. Jim: I have been using the Exif JPEG header manipulation tool for several years.  A batch file can be written to remove EXIF data from all images in a folder.  I have my wife do this before she uploads her photos to Facebook. Regards, Lee H.


Letter Re: OPSEC Issue: Geotagging on Pictures from Smart Phones

Dear Mr. Rawles, With the proliferation of smart phones, as well as advanced cameras with GPSs installed, people may be giving away more information than they intend to when they snap and distribute pictures. This can be an operational security (OPSEC) issue. Embedded in the Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) data on the picture, the GPS coordinates of the picture location may be stored for anyone to access. This is especially a problem as people post these pictures online (for social networking, emailing to friends/family, or for online sales, etc.). This embedded GPS data can reveal the exact location of your …


Letter Re: Making Low Profile Bulk Food Purchases

Sir,   Your comment to the article on Budget Survival strategies cautioned about the use of grocery store club cards, as potentially allowing your purchases to be tracked.  For those concerned about this, there are simple work-arounds, and the cost savings of using club cards is usually in the order of 30% to 50% or more.    Club cards are usually available at the store through a quick sign-up process, and fake names, phone numbers and addresses can be used.  (I signed up for my first club card under the name Georgina Orwell; and with Sherlock Holmes’s “221b Baker Street” address. I’m …


Letter Re: Digital-Analog Cell Phones for Rural Areas

James, Thanks for the invaluable resource – knowledge – as provided by SurvivalBlog.  I was wanting to get some feedback on long range phones, particularly the Motorola M800 Bag Phone.  From what I can gather, this phone is dual digital and analog and it is described as used “for workers in the Oil and Gas, Agriculture and Forestry industries. Now you can stay connected in the field, on rural or urban highways, when traveling, at the cottage or even camping”.  I travel into Appalachia in Eastern Tennessee and Southeast Kentucky and also have a houseboat (on a mooring line, so …


Letter Re: David in Israel on Secure Personal Computers

Jim, In response to the current discussion on moving away from Windows, I’d suggest that SurvivalBlog readers take a look at Puppy Linux as well. It is a free bare bones OS that does most of the basic Windows functions and uses very few resources on your computer. The minimal requirements are as follows: • CPU : Pentium 166MMX • RAM : 128 MB physical RAM for releases since version 1.0.2 or, failing that, a Linux swap file and/or swap partition is required for all included applications to run; 64 MB for releases before v.1.0.2 • Hard Drive: Optional • …


Letter Re: David in Israel on Secure Personal Computers

James, Here’s a follow-up to David from Israel’s article on Linux. I encourage your readers to heed David’s advice and wean themselves off the MicroSoft Windows operating system ASAP. Linux Mint Debian is a good OS option. See the Linux Mint Debian tutorial. Here is a description: “This tutorial shows how you can set up a Linux Mint Debian 201009 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops” According to this article, the the Chinese military have already removed …


Letter Re: Preppers as Foster Parents

Dear Mr. Rawles:   Thank you for your dedication to the survivalist movement.  As a Ten Cent Challenge subscriber, I appreciate being able to read many of the posts and comments on your web site.  I am hoping to pose a question to you and your readers about becoming foster parents as survivalists.    First, I little about us:We live in a small suburban community in Ohio.  Because of several issues, we have decided to retreat in place.  With a little land, we have created a suburban homestead with a large garden and a small chicken flock.  We have also …


Letter Re: What Your Cell Phone Could Be Telling the Government

James Wesley: Regarding the recent article at the Time magazine web site that has been forwarded far and wide: What Your Cell Phone Could Be Telling the Government. Remember, this is America. While there is no better place on earth to live, you are never any more free than They allow you to believe you are at any given moment. All you can do is live out your life, raise your family, eke out some happiness, and try to affect the change that is important to you in the short time you are here. It is certainly worthwhile (and patriotic) …


Letter Re: How to Bypass Blocked Web Sites

My Dear Mr. Rawles, I am writing in regards to Tamara W.’s letter. I am an IT manager tasked with keeping data and people secure – in that order. As a prepper with an enlightened self interest for the well being of my fellow preppers, I would strongly encourage your readers to not necessarily follow all of Tamara’s W. advice. When your readers are at work, they should understand that the IT Department has full access to their PCs and all their records and e-mails. Your readers are playing on the IT Departments’ networks and the IT Departments literally make …