Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: buttoncookie on July 02, 2013, 09:28 pm

Title: So I'm new here
Post by: buttoncookie on July 02, 2013, 09:28 pm
I am in awe :) Any tips you guys can give a newbie are GREATLY appreciated! Specifically can anybody advise me on keeping my computer completely clean at all times? I am computer literate but I have never been one for anonymity on the internet and also lack knowledge in keeping my computer devoid of any evidence that I have ever accessed this site.

Thanks in advance :)
Title: Re: So I'm new here
Post by: buttoncookie on July 02, 2013, 10:43 pm
OK a few things to add to my post:

1) I'm not as naive as my OP makes me out to look.

2) I won't be ordering anything for some time. I have been reading through a lot of posts on this forum (among other resources) and will continue to do my research until I am satisfied that I am as informed and educated as logistically possible on everything to do with this.

3) I am genuinely in awe at this wonderful place and I am extremely excited at the possibilities it offers :)

Finally I have a question regarding anonymity on the internet:

Should I use TAILS and GNuPG encryption, what else would you recommend I use in order to maximize the protection I am providing myself in case of the worst happening? Can you recommend any other safeguards I can put in place? I'm talking about, at the moment, purely the digital security side of the equation. I am not familiar with such concepts but I will learn (hopefully quicker with some of your help).

Many thanks in advance again :)
Title: Re: So I'm new here
Post by: tree on July 02, 2013, 10:53 pm
I'd use PGP every time you have to give your address and avoid vendors with keys smaller than 2048bits because they're not really secure anymore (and also avoid vendors that don't use PGP). Use gpg4usb for PGP, it's really the best.
Don't finalize early (FE), it's not a security issue but you're way more likely to get scammed that way. You should encrypt your hard drive with truecrypt too, and keep any silkroad related documents encrypted.
TAILS is not necessary but it's safer than using TBB on windows or on other OSs, you don't absolutely have to use it but it's a lot better. If you want even more security, use whonix over linux.. It's more complicated than TAILS but even more secure. Forbid scripts globally on torbrowser is a good thing to do too.

To optimize PGP and to use it anonymously, add the following to your gpg.conf file :
throw-keyid
trust-model always
utf8-strings
no-greeting
no-emit-version
no-comments
no-mdc-warning
armor