Tin Hat Linux

This article is about Tin Hat Linux. For the compact, security-minded Linux distribution, see Tinfoil Hat Linux.
Tin Hat Linux
Developer Anthony G. Basile, et al.
OS family Unix-like
Working state Current
Source model Open source
Latest release 20130228 / February 28, 2013 (2013-02-28)
Available in Multilanguage
Package manager Portage
Platforms IA-32, x86-64
Kernel type Monolithic
Default user interface GNOME
License Various
Official website tinhat.sourceforge.net

Tin Hat is a Security-focused Linux distribution derived from Hardened Gentoo Linux. It aims to provide a very secure, stable, and fast desktop environment that lives purely in RAM.[1] Tin Hat boots from CD, or optionally from USB flash drive, but it does not mount any file system directly from the boot device.[1] Instead, Tin Hat employs a large SquashFS image from the boot device which expands into tmpfs upon booting. This makes for long boot times, but fast speeds during use.

Design goal

The central design consideration in Tin Hat is to construct an operating system that can hide data from an attacker even if he has physical access to the computer.[1] Physical access to a computer with unencrypted filesystems does not secure the data and an attacker could easily retrieve the data. Encrypting the filesystem provides protection from such an attack, but many implementations of encryption do not hide the fact that data is encrypted on the filesystem. For example, the LUKS encryption system includes metadata which detail the block cipher and block cipher mode used in encryption. This information does not help the attacker decrypt the filesystem, but it does reveal that it contains encrypted data and not random data. However, Tin Hat stores its filesystem in the RAM, leaving no data in the computer's hard drive. If the user stores any data via a more permanent means than RAM, the encrypted data is indiscernible from random data.

Tin Hat's preferred method of encryption is via loop-aes v3.

Beyond these considerations, Tin Hat has to also protect against more common exploits based on networking or security holes in software. The hardening model chosen is PaX/Grsecurity which is already provided by the Hardened Gentoo project. Hardening of the kernel and the toolchain make most code born exploits less likely. A non-modular compiled kernel further frustrates the insertion of malicious kernel modules.

Difference from Gentoo

The design goals of Tin Hat necessitate branching from Gentoo, rather than adding features from within by adding software to Gentoo's native portage system.

References

This article uses content from this page on tinhat.sourceforge.net, where it is licensed under the Gnu GPL.

  1. 1 2 3 "Tin Hat". D'Youville College.

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