Question System Operative, Machine, Smartphone and apps focused on privacy and security

[tradingworldwide321]

Hello all

I hope you are doing well.

I was wondering what are the best System Operatings, laptops brands, smartphones brands, apps for encrypted email, chat and voice communication, web browsing, passwords managers and vpn/vps providers all focused on privacy and security.

As far as I have researched this is what I have:
for System Operating: Qubes OS, Pure OS DEBIAN, Pop OS UBUNTU and Mac OS.
for Laptops brands: NitroPad X230 (old machines), Purism, System76 and Apple.
for Smartphones: Google Pixel with Graphene OS ANDROID, and Librem 5 with Pure OS from Purism.
for communication apps: Telegram and Signal.
for web browsing: tor

I have no idea about anything else.

The purpose is using the laptop/smartphone as a tool of working from any location in the world, manage crypto wallets/FIAT transactions, protect passwords and simple documents and guarantee privacy and security in case the laptop/smartphone is manipulated, stolen, lost or damaged.

I would very glad any useful info about this.

Thanks

 

[Jerry1911]

You are pretty much correct about everything except Apple. I would also add Monero for transactions and payments.

 

[legrant]

My choices if you're really serious about privacy:

OS: Qubes or Tails (Tails runs on ram)
Laptop brands: anything but Apple or Microsoft. Lenovo Thinkpads are usually nice
Smartphones: Pretty much any android phone that you can open and remove certain components such as the camera, microphone, etc. Use a privacy OS such as Graphene.
Communication: any tox client (tox supports file transfer, chat, voice and video communication and is p2p)
Browsing: tor (use bridges, no js, and use your brain)
VPN: use your own (buy a vps on an offshore country with lax laws and setup a vpn), or mullvad (don't use mainstream vpns as most are owned by israeli government/military)
Email: tutanota/protonmail should be good, but they will suspend you if you're reported (note that they both encrypt emails if they're send to another tutanota/protonmail account, otherwise they wont be encrypted at all). You can use mail2tor using tor and that'll be good too, I've had my account there for ages without any issues.
Password Managers: your brain
Crypto: Trezor/Ledger
Encryption: use AES. You can create encrypted containers or encrypt devices using veracrypt (open source)

 

[Forester]

Basically I agree with @legrant, adding for communication any SIP client supporting ZRTP (jitsi, blink, twinkle, baresip, ... – depends on OS; if using ZRTP, sipproxy does not matter) and giving a special Like to “Password Managers: your brain” (agreeing at 200% )
Just a minor remark – I personally consider protonmail better than tutanota, as the former is under Swiss jurisdiction, the latter underlies EU.

 

[Marie Manila]

For laptop I'd suggest Lenovo Thinkpad T series.
I think the hardware is not a problem regarding privacy. They are rock solid and work properly with Linux.
Use a SSD with hardware encryption.

For messaging, I'd go for Threema or XMPP with OTR, PGP or better OMEMO.

If you use Telegram, keep in mind that chats are very often not encrypted. Telegram just does not comply to any governmental request.

 

[Forester]

For laptop I'd suggest Lenovo Thinkpad T series.
I think the hardware is not a problem regarding privacy. They are rock solid and work properly with Linux.

Agreeing.

For messaging, I'd go for Threema or XMPP with OTR, PGP or better OMEMO.

Are you sure about security of Threema? I know at least about one (medialised) case (Central Europe, SK) when Threema conversation was revealed and used by law enforcement officers (and courts, consequently)...

If you use Telegram, keep in mind that chats are very often not encrypted.

Agreeing again.

 

[EuroKiss]

Telegram just does not comply to any governmental request.

Partially correct, Telegram closes Channels if required by some governments; till now didn’t see any one2one chat closed but it could happen as well. I suggest to download the APK from their site and not install from Google Play.

 

[Marie Manila]

Are you sure about security of Threema? I know at least about one (medialised) case (Central Europe, SK) when Threema conversation was revealed and used by law enforcement officers (and courts, consequently)...

Did the law enforcement officers received the data from Threema by request or did they just seized the mobile phone and had access to the chats there?
Or have they used a trojan horse like Pegasus?

 

[Forester]

Well, I will post all the information that I now posess:

Did the law enforcement officers received the data from Threema by request

I am not aware about any public information concerning this.

did they just seized the mobile phone and had access to the chats there?

According to the media coverage, this probably happened.
The undisputable fact is that parts of the conversations were publicly quoted and also used in the investigation and court hearings - accepted as evidence.

Or have they used a trojan horse like Pegasus?

I am not aware about any public information concerning this.

FWIW, the case referenced is the assassination of Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée in February 2018, quite deeply covered in (at least) European media during that time.