Tails Operating System’s Website Hacked

June 30, 2014 Vivek Trivedi

Tails Operating System’s Website was hacked by some Hacker, who calls himself “Sum Guy”. The hacker somehow got access to the website’s admin area and changed the home page content with:

“You has been haxoredeszed by sum dumb 17 year old by accident…

“Sorry about that please forgive me! I accidentally logged myself in as someone important and changed the site, not knowing that what I was changing would save! So sorry about that… I hope you have a backup, Oh and btw I love your OS! Yours sincerely, Sum guy. And before I leave, Hi ed… and zoin.”

As per the reports, only the Home Page was modified. At this moment, it is not cleared whether the OS Image was altered or not, hence users are advised not to download the package till further notice.

Tails, also known as Amnesiac Incognito Live System, is a free Operating System specially designed to preserve the anonymity and privacy of the user. It can be loaded on a DVD, USB stick or a SD Card and can be started from any computer by just plugging the USB Stick, SD Card or DVD. Moreover, it comes ready with built-in applications pre-configured with security in mind: web browser, instant messaging client, email client, office suite, image and sound editor, etc.

Tails Operating System is said to be used by Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras for obvious reasons. Snowden used it to evade National Security Agency while he leaked thousands of documents. The Operating System has doubled its popularity over the last year, specially due to the loud cheering of the OS by the journalist Greenwald.

Press Freedom Foundation when asked Greenwald and Poitras about the importance of the Tails OS to their work, here’s what they say:

Laura Poitras –

“I’ve been reluctant to go into details about the different steps I took to communicate securely with Snowden to avoid those methods being targeted. Now that Tails gives a green light, I can say it has been an essential tool for reporting the NSA story. It is an all-in-one secure digital communication system (GPG email, OTR chat, Tor web browser, encrypted storage) that is small enough to swallow. I’m very thankful to the Tails developers for building this tool.”

Glenn Greenwald –

“Tails have been vital to my ability to work securely on the NSA story. The more I’ve come to learn about communications security, the more central Tails has become to my approach.”