Update to k3tan’s Starting a new digital identity
Update to k3tan’s Starting a new digital identity
Ktan wrote a nice article on digital identities (https://k3tan.com/starting-a-new-digital-identity) but sadly being from 2021 is out of date. This is my humble update and expansion on their ideas.
NEW Identity: Starting up a new digital identity. Notice the “new” part. For a history lesson most hackers, black and white hats, get caught from reusing nyms or user names. Maybe it is laziness or human ego wanting to show street cred but never never never reuse user names. Maybe you used a name just for fun with friends but much later used it again for mission critical operations. You are super careful and it is super clean now, not so much back then. It only takes one misstep in the past to connect that to another nym you have used or even your real identity.
I will repeat it again, never never never reuse user names. Every email account, social media, online forum, whatever use a different name and never reference another account either in posts or in registration. i.e. New email accounts in that new name or burner accounts. Use a online username generator or name generator to avoid personal bias to give any sort of hint to the new name. Don’t let your love of pokemon characters be your downfall.
Devices: The author k3tan is correct, cash is king. Get cash and use cash to buy a laptop, a usb flash drive, and a lanyard. Use free Wifi access to download a linux distro and use the flash drive to install to the laptop. The original article suggests POP OS for some reason but in my opinion that can be a little resource intensive especially for a lower end laptop. The GOAT is Qubes but can be a bit intimidating for new users and again need a good amount of RAM so it is best for desktops. Honestly any linux distro is fine but some lightweight security inclined ones to look at are: Subgraph OS, Alpine, or PureOS.
Once that is installed to the laptop, use that to download Tails OS and install it on the flash drive you used to install your laptop OS. The laptop is going to be your daily driver for minor tasks and the tails flash drive is going to be your mission critical device when you need higher privacy and anonymity. Put the tails flash drive on the lanyard you bought. It will keep you from losing it and when it is plugged in and in use wrap the lanyard around your wrist. In a emergency just snatch it out of the computer. Your session will be wiped.
Phone: A phone is never going to be private. (see Your phone is not your friend) There is only degrees of how terrible it can be. For personal use with the understanding that it will be linked to your identity, but with better privacy from corporate spying a pixel device running Graphene os is the answer. For mission critical communications that require a phone then refer to my burner phone guide . (I will publish a unencrypted version for this reference guide)
Get Bitcoin and Monero: P2P through local meetup is fantastic if you have access to something like that. If you live in a smaller population center then that might not be a option. Use robosats to purchase bitcoin and Haveno-retro to purchase monero. Samurai is unfortunately gone and ashigaru is too new to recommend. Cake wallet with Tor is the go to for mobile and electrum and feather wallet on desktop.
Accounts: Use the monero or the non-KYC bitcoin to purchase Mullvad VPN. Setup a encrypted email account with either Proton or Posteo. Encrypt your files with veracrypt or picocrypt.
For more details and going further down the rabbit hole see:
Operation Security and Your Digital Life Nyms, Personas, and Digital Identity