When you mentioned some of the issues with using a phone for banking. A thing criminals are doing now in my country is they will hold you at gunpoint and demand you clean out your bank account from your phone. I have never liked banking by phone as I could see it was a major security issue. Though not having the banking app on my phone throws the tellers at the bank for a loop when you try to get help from them. They want to send you to the app to do things. Heck I don't even have tap and go on my cards. One has to decide how much security are you willing to give up to how much ease of use you will get in return. And to me the risks are just too high. Also doing it this way stops me from just spending wrecklessly. As I have to make an effort to do a payment and therefore more time to think about it before I do.
Surprised to know bank staffs of other places are pushing customer to use banking app or internet banking along with my country. It is really going very tough to common man dealing with bank staffs
This is perfect I am in the process going full sperg on my personal attack surface and was looking to implement a computer just for banking while maximizing privacy between bank to bank data leaking.
1. ISO check is integrated in Mint Cinnamon's Nemo file manager, and also in others, like Double Commander, so is much easier than looking with eyes. 2. Linux Mint installer puts the boot loader to the first drive by default, it's not a bug, you can change it during installation, you just must pay attention. 3. Check the Firefox Multi Account Container add-in, is also a good thing for isolating (sand boxing) web pages separately, using this for banking, shopping, and other things, created a Google container for Gmail, one for YT, also you can install Facebook container add-in, also a Google container, no really need for different browsers.
There is a bug where the even if you select the drive it still installs to the first one. I have confirmed it in some tests and I had some discussions with some of the mint guys and they agree.
I would make some changes to how you did it. It's the USB . I've had too many of them failed. Some have failed in two weeks. Not read or write. Adding a cheap SSD 2" inch plus enclosure as about 30 bucks to the cost and gets your very reliable drive set up.
I really enjoyed this kind of video Tom, considering the massive increase of cybersecurity incidents lately this tutorial is definitely timely. You could do something similar with a raspberry pi with a minimalist Linux install for a more portable, non-PC/Mac invasive hardware compromised system.
I recently switched to Linux Mint from Arch. I'm writing my first novel and I need an OS that just works and without rolling release. I feel that Mint is perfect distribution for authors. :)
Excelente video, desconocía que webapp-manager fuera muy útil en términos de navegación segura. Sin duda lo probaré. Actualmente tengo una pc específica para transacciones monetarias. Gracias por compartir el conocimiento 👍👍
I tried this procedure on my old HP AMD (pre-Ryzen) "A" series APU laptop where I normally run Linux Mint (after removing the boot drive as you said). After completing everything, my thumb drive would crash. Then I remembered that in one of the recent Mint kernel updates, I had the same problem on that old laptop. to solve it I had to edit the grub file everywhere (/etc/grub.d, /boot/grub, etc., then sudo update-grub). I don't know if this is only an AMD old graphics chip thing??? So I rebooted back to the laptop Linux Mint, connected the newly created thumbdrive, then edited all the "grub" files I could find that were not encrypted. Search for "quiet splash", then append "nomodeset" everywhere you find that string. I was then able to boot and get into the encrypted drive where I repeated the grub change everywhere. (I forget all the places, but like /etc/default/grub, /boot/grub, etc.,) I did run sudo update-grub for good measure. Anyway, I hope this may help anyone else out there who may have an old machine with some kind of graphics card issue.
Tom I too now just use Linux Mint XFCE for my banking as well by using a USB flash drive just like you did and it works like a charm no issues whatever and I too use the Web App that Linux Mint has developed as I fully trust Linux Mint team as before I was using Linux Mint XFCE but my main machine but now you made an excellent point of what if your main machine gets hacked then bye bye money which is DANGEROUS OMG so now I use a USB flash drive $20 bucks here across the lake which is nothing now a days $20 so best $20 I ever spend on BestBuy and now when I want to do my banking I just plug my Banking OS which is what I call it Banking OS LOL yes I know not very creative but then not important and go to town doing my banking and checking on my S&P 500 index fund because that how your wealth grows plus retail is not so great here in Canada welll the prices for houses are droping but only by 50000 which a lot but I decided not going to buy a house for rent just yet maybe in 10 years time when Canada gets their head of the sand and look around AKA government so I have passive income baby yeah give mama money LOL anyways Tom great video because it is educational and related to open source and Linux and Linux Mint so A+++ in my book :)
Before hardening the os, I would recommend to first eliminate the *point of failure with the worst security:* the bank. Use Bitcoin instead. No point in building a high tech vault and storing the money outdoors.
Another way to do this is to create an encrypted virtual drive and use that, I realize the USB option is more secure because theoretically a keylogger or screen grabber on the Host could compromise your data, but for those of us who enter transactions all day as well as do other tasks on the same machine, it isn't practical to boot to a live USB key. I do think it is an excellent option for the average user though. BTW: Food Coloring? Are you thinking about baking a cake? (On your scratch pad)
I have a pnc 1 Gb thumb drive from about 16 years ago that has outlasted several newer sandisk 16 and 32 Gb thumbdrives. The old pnc drive has a cap over the connector as opposed to the sandisk ones being retractable, with the end being exposed. Not sure if this is the difference or is pnc a better drive? Or maybe the older druves were more durable.
I really appreciate your videos. I wanted to make a Linux mint disk that you are showing us now. I tried making one before on the advice of another UA-camr. But it had a strange issue. I placed an order and had to fill in the requirements. But then it reverted back in time. And i could not change the requirements on that webpage. Because it kept changing them back to default. Now that i made the disk with your instructions it has issues. It sometimes crashes. And then asks me to log in again in the OS of Linux. I do not think it is the disk. Because it is a really high quality and relatively new one.
This information, like all the information I get from your channel, is fantastic! However, I need to point out one big thing that could make your organization look better on camera. Take a roller brush to that microphone wind filter! The hair doesn't look good!
I like to use MX Linux instead for this. It’s live usb maker tool supports encryption and if you make it a read only drive it won’t wear out too quickly.
By the way… that Hasleo disc copy only works on actual internal drives. Maybe I missed it in your description. For USB you need WinToUsb… but it is not free.
Tom has another channel called Tux traveler featuring the van and some of the places he has been. He hasn't posted much there lately most likely due to a hectic schedule.
Would Alpine Linux be a good option? (Or, OpenBSD, if it will even work with the banking software🤣 Although, to be fair, if Theo considers banking software an unacceptable security risk, I can't really disagree with him. 😇)
The only one issue with linux mint is it very low "Lynis" security rating....just tested Opensuse tumbleweed a few minutes ago and had a rating of 92, and linux mint 22 beta, 68. Linux mint will need a lot of work to turn more secure if you want this as your main distro
You really said a USB drive running GNU/Linux would only last a couple of years? JFC. Do you store USB drives in a freezer or something? What are you doing to ruin these drives in a couple of years? I have a 16GB Kingston USB drive that's over 10 years old now...
Likely due to the write cycles wearing it out. Installing an operating system to it is harder on it than using it to back up files. I have a pnc that is at least 16 years old that is still going strong. I also have several sanbisk drives that failed after 18 months of moderate use. I am not sure what the difference Is.
Warning! Uninstalling software that comes with Linux Mint is not always safe. I found out the hard way when it removed my desktop. I am still waiting for someone to publish a list of the Linux Mint programs we can uninstall without it removing my desktop. Why does Linux Mint make it so easy to remove programs by clicking on uninstall that also remove Gnome at the same time?
When you mentioned some of the issues with using a phone for banking. A thing criminals are doing now in my country is they will hold you at gunpoint and demand you clean out your bank account from your phone. I have never liked banking by phone as I could see it was a major security issue. Though not having the banking app on my phone throws the tellers at the bank for a loop when you try to get help from them. They want to send you to the app to do things. Heck I don't even have tap and go on my cards.
One has to decide how much security are you willing to give up to how much ease of use you will get in return. And to me the risks are just too high. Also doing it this way stops me from just spending wrecklessly. As I have to make an effort to do a payment and therefore more time to think about it before I do.
The only clean out I've seen happen is ordering you to withdraw cash from the ATM rather than online
Surprised to know bank staffs of other places are pushing customer to use banking app or internet banking along with my country. It is really going very tough to common man dealing with bank staffs
Solid video Tom...I think this is a great idea for some really secure banking. Keep these videos coming ! :)
This is perfect I am in the process going full sperg on my personal attack surface and was looking to implement a computer just for banking while maximizing privacy between bank to bank data leaking.
Nvme Ssd in a USB 3.X ENCLOSURE would provide durability the this setup!
1. ISO check is integrated in Mint Cinnamon's Nemo file manager, and also in others, like Double Commander, so is much easier than looking with eyes.
2. Linux Mint installer puts the boot loader to the first drive by default, it's not a bug, you can change it during installation, you just must pay attention.
3. Check the Firefox Multi Account Container add-in, is also a good thing for isolating (sand boxing) web pages separately, using this for banking, shopping, and other things, created a Google container for Gmail, one for YT, also you can install Facebook container add-in, also a Google container, no really need for different browsers.
There is a bug where the even if you select the drive it still installs to the first one. I have confirmed it in some tests and I had some discussions with some of the mint guys and they agree.
I would make some changes to how you did it. It's the USB . I've had too many of them failed. Some have failed in two weeks. Not read or write. Adding a cheap SSD 2" inch plus enclosure as about 30 bucks to the cost and gets your very reliable drive set up.
Or just use the smallest portable ssd available.
I really enjoyed this kind of video Tom, considering the massive increase of cybersecurity incidents lately this tutorial is definitely timely. You could do something similar with a raspberry pi with a minimalist Linux install for a more portable, non-PC/Mac invasive hardware compromised system.
I recently switched to Linux Mint from Arch. I'm writing my first novel and I need an OS that just works and without rolling release. I feel that Mint is perfect distribution for authors. :)
Mint es la distribución perfecta para trabajar, mi opinión claro 👍👍
love how each video of yours has its own unique flavor!
Excelente video, desconocía que webapp-manager fuera muy útil en términos de navegación segura. Sin duda lo probaré. Actualmente tengo una pc específica para transacciones monetarias. Gracias por compartir el conocimiento 👍👍
How much passion...Ich liebe Deine Tutorials, Du bist sehr gut, Danke and god bless you and america...cheerrs
THANK YOU SO MUCH !
I was just looking for something like this.
👍
Tom..If you haven't done so already..Can you do a tutorial on setting/using up website passkeys on Linux Mint? Thanks!
I tried this procedure on my old HP AMD (pre-Ryzen) "A" series APU laptop where I normally run Linux Mint (after removing the boot drive as you said). After completing everything, my thumb drive would crash. Then I remembered that in one of the recent Mint kernel updates, I had the same problem on that old laptop. to solve it I had to edit the grub file everywhere (/etc/grub.d, /boot/grub, etc., then sudo update-grub). I don't know if this is only an AMD old graphics chip thing???
So I rebooted back to the laptop Linux Mint, connected the newly created thumbdrive, then edited all the "grub" files I could find that were not encrypted. Search for "quiet splash", then append "nomodeset" everywhere you find that string. I was then able to boot and get into the encrypted drive where I repeated the grub change everywhere. (I forget all the places, but like /etc/default/grub, /boot/grub, etc.,) I did run sudo update-grub for good measure. Anyway, I hope this may help anyone else out there who may have an old machine with some kind of graphics card issue.
Tom I too now just use Linux Mint XFCE for my banking as well by using a USB flash drive just like you did and it works like a charm no issues whatever and I too use the Web App that Linux Mint has developed as I fully trust Linux Mint team as before I was using Linux Mint XFCE but my main machine but now you made an excellent point of what if your main machine gets hacked then bye bye money which is DANGEROUS OMG so now I use a USB flash drive $20 bucks here across the lake which is nothing now a days $20 so best $20 I ever spend on BestBuy and now when I want to do my banking I just plug my Banking OS which is what I call it Banking OS LOL yes I know not very creative but then not important and go to town doing my banking and checking on my S&P 500 index fund because that how your wealth grows plus retail is not so great here in Canada welll the prices for houses are droping but only by 50000 which a lot but I decided not going to buy a house for rent just yet maybe in 10 years time when Canada gets their head of the sand and look around AKA government so I have passive income baby yeah give mama money LOL anyways Tom great video because it is educational and related to open source and Linux and Linux Mint so A+++ in my book :)
Before hardening the os, I would recommend to first eliminate the *point of failure with the worst security:* the bank.
Use Bitcoin instead.
No point in building a high tech vault and storing the money outdoors.
Another way to do this is to create an encrypted virtual drive and use that, I realize the USB option is more secure because theoretically a keylogger or screen grabber on the Host could compromise your data, but for those of us who enter transactions all day as well as do other tasks on the same machine, it isn't practical to boot to a live USB key. I do think it is an excellent option for the average user though. BTW: Food Coloring? Are you thinking about baking a cake? (On your scratch pad)
It's a shame Peppermint changed the way they did. I can see how Linux Mint would be a good and secure platform for banking. Thanks Tom.
I have a pnc 1 Gb thumb drive from about 16 years ago that has outlasted several newer sandisk 16 and 32 Gb thumbdrives.
The old pnc drive has a cap over the connector as opposed to the sandisk ones being retractable, with the end being exposed. Not sure if this is the difference or is pnc a better drive? Or maybe the older druves were more durable.
Great video. Can docker containers do the same?
I really appreciate your videos. I wanted to make a Linux mint disk that you are showing us now. I tried making one before on the advice of another UA-camr. But it had a strange issue. I placed an order and had to fill in the requirements. But then it reverted back in time. And i could not change the requirements on that webpage. Because it kept changing them back to default. Now that i made the disk with your instructions it has issues. It sometimes crashes. And then asks me to log in again in the OS of Linux. I do not think it is the disk. Because it is a really high quality and relatively new one.
Good video… my question is that most of the banks from my country are now shifting to their Phone App they are not supporting web based transactions 😔
Can you please do a video on how you can upgrade from 21.3 to 22 Linux mint as I would like to do this,
This information, like all the information I get from your channel, is fantastic! However, I need to point out one big thing that could make your organization look better on camera. Take a roller brush to that microphone wind filter! The hair doesn't look good!
Doesn't qubes work like that?
I like to use MX Linux instead for this. It’s live usb maker tool supports encryption and if you make it a read only drive it won’t wear out too quickly.
I have a spare NVE SSD from a computer I bought. I also have an enclosure for it with a USB interface. Any idea how long this drive might last?
Thank you for posting.
Love this. Thank you!
By the way… that Hasleo disc copy only works on actual internal drives. Maybe I missed it in your description.
For USB you need WinToUsb… but it is not free.
Love ya van. Do yo do any vanlife vids?
Tom has another channel called Tux traveler featuring the van and some of the places he has been.
He hasn't posted much there lately most likely due to a hectic schedule.
Do you have another video that explains what is LVM?
Now this is out on the open. Is it still secure?
Would Alpine Linux be a good option? (Or, OpenBSD, if it will even work with the banking software🤣 Although, to be fair, if Theo considers banking software an unacceptable security risk, I can't really disagree with him. 😇)
The only one issue with linux mint is it very low "Lynis" security rating....just tested Opensuse tumbleweed a few minutes ago and had a rating of 92, and linux mint 22 beta, 68. Linux mint will need a lot of work to turn more secure if you want this as your main distro
Never heard of the rating but best practices beat technological barriers everytime. I put 0 worth on your rating for the average person.
Best, most secure banking and other - system is QuebesOS ;)) but Little hard in use😂
You really said a USB drive running GNU/Linux would only last a couple of years? JFC. Do you store USB drives in a freezer or something? What are you doing to ruin these drives in a couple of years? I have a 16GB Kingston USB drive that's over 10 years old now...
Likely due to the write cycles wearing it out.
Installing an operating system to it is harder on it than using it to back up files.
I have a pnc that is at least 16 years old that is still going strong. I also have several sanbisk drives that failed after 18 months of moderate use. I am not sure what the difference Is.
One could compare the checksums without eyeballing it as well.
echo " " | sha256sum -c
Warning! Uninstalling software that comes with Linux Mint is not always safe. I found out the hard way when it removed my desktop. I am still waiting for someone to publish a list of the Linux Mint programs we can uninstall without it removing my desktop. Why does Linux Mint make it so easy to remove programs by clicking on uninstall that also remove Gnome at the same time?
You know you can't steal anything from an account that doesn't have anything to steal to begin with ;)
Your use of specialized hardware, e.g., the ability to power-off the hard drive, destroys the usefulness of this tutorial. That's where I checked out.
There are public keys and private keys to the back door of all Linux system distributors buyer beware and who knows who has all these keys
Awesome