Anonymizing Linux Tails 6.4 strengthens cryptography
The anonymizing, portable Linux distribution for the USB stick Tails has been released in version 6.4. It improves cryptography and corrects problems.
(Image: heise online / dmk)
The anonymizing Linux "for your pocket" Tails has been released in version 6.4. The developers want to improve the cryptography and have corrected some problems.
In the version announcement, the Tails maintainers write that the new version now stores a seed for random number generators (random seed) on the USB stick, outside the persistent memory area. This is intended to ensure more secure and stronger cryptography, which is used for persistent storage, Tor or HTTPS.
Updated core components
The core components responsible for security and privacy have been updated by the project participants. Version 13.0.16 of the Tor Browser, which is based on Firefox ESR, and version 0.4.8.12 of the Tor client have been released, while Thunderbird has been updated to 115.12.0.
The developers have also resolved further problems with unlocking persistent storage and fixed connection problems to mobile networks on some hardware. The PDF reader in Thunderbird is active again after it was disabled in Tails 6.3 for security reasons. The Tails Cloner now displays more comprehensible error messages if the target USB stick cannot be ejected because it is still in use.
The Tor Browser could display the error message Tor Browser blocked your homepage from loading if the "New Identity" function was used. This was achieved by configuring the option browser.startup.homepage.new_identity as true in Tor Browser.
The current version of Tails is available for download as an image for USB sticks and as an image for DVDs or virtual machines on the Tails website.
With Tails 6.3, which was released around a month ago, the developers corrected security problems. In addition, the core components were brought up to date.
(dmk)