DemocraKey - portable security suite [commercial, discontinued]

[Simon.T]

DemocraKey.com
Imagine carrying a portable security suite with you wherever you go. Walk up to any computer, quickly scan it for viruses, and then defeat any internet access blocks to view any website you want anonymously. It’s here, and the DemocraKey 2.0 Lite let’s you have it on your iPod.

Features

* Protect your computer from viruses with a security enhanced version of Firefox
* Visit sites that are blocked by your school/employer/government
* Hide your internet actions with Tor
* Encrypt personal emails with GPG
* Scan your computer with portable built in Antivirus software
* Runs from any portable media - iPod, USB key, Digital Camera…
* It’s FREE and Open Source!

What is a DemocraKey?

It’s software to protect your computer while you’re working on the internet.

It provides a layer of protection from viruses, a layer of protection from people trying to see what sites you’re visiting, and a layer of protection to stop hackers from viewing files you don’t want them to.

In a word, it does what computers already should do: Look out for your privacy and security.

A DemocraKey is a portable piece of software that works on any computer. Just walk up, plug in a DemocraKey, and you can be assured your files are much safer, your computer is better protected while browsing the web, and nobody will be able to tell which site you’re visiting.


SourceForge.net: DemocraKey
The DemocraKey is a portable privacy suite to ensure your security and anonyminity on while browsing the internet. No more viruses from browsing the web. Just install to a USB Key or an iPod, and you're ready to start surfing secure.


Lifehacker: Download of the Day
Once you download and install the 150MB package onto your external drive, launch it using the StartPortableApps.exe file. A menu will appear with folder links to your portable documents, and the Thunderbird email client, ClamWin virus scanner and what the developer calls "the meat and potatoes of the DemocraKey":

A security enhanced version of the Mozilla 2.0 web browser, incorporating TOR seamlessly [that] lets you circumvent your school/employer's web blocker. It also allows you to surf anonymously, and doesn't leave a trace of the websites you visit.

There's also a slimmer DemocraKey Lite version 2.0 available that's in beta. Slated future improvements include document encryption, too.


click for full view

DemocraKey.HomePage / DemocraKey.ProjectPage / Lifehacker: Download of the Day (feb-8-2007)

[FlightGeek]

* Visit sites that are blocked by your school/employer/government

Three comments:

1) Depending on how the blocking works, Tor may not get you around it and you may not be able to get anything with Tor at all. I know that this is the case both where I work and at the school where I am a volunteer network administrator.

2) Attempting to circumvent your school's/employer's/government's policy is a very bad idea. Make a habit of it and you will eventually get caught.

3) This could be a good thing for public WIFI hot spots, depending on how the hot spots are set up.

FG

[TPFC Fan]

2) Attempting to circumvent your school's/employer's/government's policy is a very bad idea. Make a habit of it and you will eventually get caught.

yay, i like censorship too. It protects me from informations others dont want me to see.

[Simon.T]

1) Depending on how the blocking works, Tor may not get you around it and you may not be able to get anything with Tor at all. I know that this is the case both where I work and at the school where I am a volunteer network administrator.

FlightGeek, check Torpark and see that it's portable and already got Tor in it (so Tor is available)

by the way, if we already talk about Tor, i recommend you to use Vidalia

[Simon.T]

* Visit sites that are blocked by your school/employer/government

URL fixer http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/6564

replaces domain name with IP address for inline images

The firewall at my place of work likes to block certain websites, but many of these sites are accessible by their IP address.
So I find it useful to replace the domain name for inline images with the IP address. Edit this script to work for your favorite sites.
This script won't do much if you don't edit it. Just change the values for domainname and ipaddress, and you are set.
Before installing this script, you might want to make sure you can access the site via the IP address (sometimes firewalls block those, too).
Note: you can often get the IP address of a website by using the ping command. In Windows, goto Start:Run, and type "cmd". At the
command line, type ping http://www.blockedsite.com, and you should see the IP address.

you'll need Greasemonkey for activate this script!



mozdev.org: http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/ ---> http://www.greasespot.net/

FF Add-ons: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/748/

[FlightGeek]

yay, i like censorship too. It protects me from informations others dont want me to see.

I don't like censorship either

However, I know that every time you violate a policy, there is a probability of getting caught. As you continue to violate policy, the probability approaches unity. A professional I.T. Security department has hundreds of years of collective experience and access to a variety of sleuthing tools you may not even know exist. They also know that most violations are committed by insiders. If you persist in violation, expect to face the consequences. In my case a 22+ year career would go down the tubes.

FlightGeek, check Torpark and see that it's portable and already got Tor in it (so Tor is available)

Just because the Tor software is available does not mean that it can access the Tor network. In the case of my workplace there is a computer between the internal network and the internet. The computer does not pass packets between the networks (no NAT). It runs a set of application layer proxies to permit access to selected internet services. To access an internet service you must first connect to the appropriate proxy server. Then you ask "Please connect me to ...". The Proxy server checks it's database to see whether the request is permitted and either connects to the service for you or sends back instructions on where to find the official policy you just tried to violate.

Tor, obviously, is blocked since using it would ruin the whole point of the proxy servers.

I would also like to point out that the company is not being "evil". It is responding to pragmatic concerns and the law. As long as you behave yourself the company doesn't care where you go. However...

The company does not want to deal with sexual harassment charges, so pron is blocked.

The company does not want to deal with any RIAA lawsuits so shady mp3 sites are blocked, along with P2P file sharing.

I could list more, but by now you should get the idea.

F.G.

[Simon.T]

alright, you were right and i were wrong. my head is blowing only because chit chatting with you

so any idea of how to solve this problem?

[FlightGeek]

so any idea of how to solve this problem?

I see two problems here:

The circumventing censorship problem will have to be left as an exercise for the reader because the solution is highly site-dependent. Of course the "connect" method of the proxy server might help if you have something outside on port 443 to connect to. Your mileage will vary. Don't try this at home. Slippery when wet. Beware of dog.

The problem of keeping malware off your flash stick and your computer is something that DemocraKey can help with , provided you have access to a standard version of Firefox (if you must work in locations with restrictive firewalls).

The virus scanning and encryption can still be useful even behind a highly restrictive firewall. Torpark is useful in environments where it can work, such as public WIFI hot spots, hotels, restaurants, even at home

I would suggest personalizing it with:

Truecrypt - to keep private data private if you loose your stick.

Your favorite sync tool to back up your data before something happens to your stick.

Certain Firefox extensions including Adblock Plus, CookieSafe and NoScript. Set your default cookie policy to "session only" and most sites will work, but their cookies are toast when you exit Firefox.

A low profile launcher if you don't like the big flashy "PortableApps" thing.

F.G.

[FlightGeek]

This is getting a bit off topic, but for the truly paranoid there are some more aggressive things you can do:

It is hard to infect a CD. Yea, I know, Duh. But I have not seen this trick widely used or talked about.

A CD with DSL or FreeSBIE puts an effective brick wall between "your stuff" and "their stuff". Any malware on the computer doesn't get a chance to run and you leave no trace on "their system" except the reboot records. If you add Clamav to it, it can be an effective tool to clean up really sick systems since none of the cleaver Windows stealth techniques work when you boot Linux or FreeBSD.

Note well: Some consider Linux to be a "hacking tool" and freak out at the mention of its name. Just don't use it on their system.

Other variations include running an image of your live CD in Qemu.

F.G.

[Simon.T]

WHOA!!!! i thing that we're going too much far with this (and i have no problem with that, you can keep it up i dont care) but all i wanted to do is to suggest a new portable software, for TPFC

Truecrypt - to keep private data private if you loose your stick.

nice, very clever, I'm going to try this soon

i think that lots of here would like to know more new things and ideas about privacy, write anything you can about it !!!

thank you very much for joining to this conversation

Technophilia: Protect your web searches

HOT HOT HOT!!! A MUST HAVE
Geek to Live: Encrypt your instant messages with Gaim

HOMEPAGE: Gaim-Encryption

[Firewrath]

On that note, there is also these, but a small thing first,
all but one of these are person-to-person messengers, meaning you have to have IPs to talk to eachother,
...but also aLot more secure then just using like MSN,

other then Scatter, they SEEM to be portable,
i know Psst 1.2 uses a ini file,
and im pretty sure Psst 2 writes everything to its app Dir,
but then, im not sure, since im not listing them here for portability, just the discussion,


Psst

which is pretty cool, Psst 2 has Got to be my fav though,
it can have a stupid amount of protection and uses public keys so your msgs are encrypted with a differnt key then the person your talking to,

its also sposed to support Voice chatting,
but i havnt tryed that though,

Sadly, its forever locked in Alpha stage as the project seems to be dead, -_-
but still usefull,

then there is:

Octo Chat

which is pretty nice too,
but buggy,
after you work past the few bugs that popup here and there, its a rather nice messenger in a small one file exe,
not the best, but i think has better encryption then Pssts 1 (not Psst 2 though, ) even if the GUI isnt as spiffy,

this one too, also seems to be dead, *Sigh*
(the bugs arnt that bad though, theres only like 1-2 and popup a random,
you Can use it w/o a bug popping up at all, it was on my 6th try before i even got one,)

Last but not least, there is a different encrypted version of Gaim, which id prolly use over the Gaim-Encrypt:

Scatter Chat

it looks nice,
i havnt tryed it though,
and it sposed to be based on the portable Gaim code, or so the linking site told me, but i didnt see that info on the main ScatterChat page, so make of it what you will, =/

what sets it above the other one, is it has built in Tor,
so id figure its a different IP with each msg, which if you ask me, is the best thing you could have,
(On a sidenote, it also uses a different encrption setup, but really,
i dont like either,
Gaim-Encrypt uses RSA, Scatter uses ...uhh, 3-4 different ones, but it also uses AES, neither encryption scheme i care for, -_- )



Now if only someone would make a Mirandra plugin like Scatter Chat,
that would be SO nice,....... ^-^
(But using Blowfish or Twofish or something, ....wonder if a random encryption scheme would be possible, *ponders*

...*Sigh* if only i could actually code stuff, >.<)


Anyways,

i Have to say something here,
Tor is NOT the Best thing in protection for anything on the net,
it has two Big flaws that make me wary of using it,

A) The exit machine CAN see what you are sending, between it and the page your viewing, there is No encrpytion, so safe guards, nothing,
so anyone with a packet viewer knows exactly whats leaving their machine,
...so no checking my email with that,

B) pretty much the same flaw in that, if the person with the exit machine really wanted to be a bastard and find out who you are,
its easy,
all they have to do is modify the incoming web-traffic with a cookie or such and can trace it back to you, unfortunately, its a Rare but documented problem, -_-

would that work for IMs though? doubtfully,
but, they could still get your IM name and prolly trace you that way,
so, really,
your Never secure,

and believe it or not, those person-to-person messengers are prolly more secure then using a messenger on the Tor network, as someone would have to be watching your comp inorder to see your sending msgs to someone, and then decrypt them,


id Love to find something like Psst 2 with a buildin free proxy/router listing,
that would send each msg to an internet proxy/router at random, then from that proxy/router send the msg to whatever IP its going to,
...course then your opening your self up to the Tor problem,
(where they could get the coming-from and going-to IPs)
the router way would be the better way to do it, if you got a listing of all the Major routers out there, its doubtful those would be watched all that much, and even if, who would really pay much attention to a small encrypted bit passing through?

[Darkbee]

I don't like driving 30 M.P.H. in a built-up area but unfortunately if I go any faster than that I must be prepared to face the consequences... like being fined, having my driving licence revoked etc etc.

[Andrew Lee]

FlightGeek's advice is of course pragmatic and sensible.

But if you absolutely must access certain websites blocked by some higher power....

One possibility is to use web-based proxies such as http://www.workfriendly.net/ or http://www.hidemyass.com/.

[Simon.T]

gladder :: Firefox Add-ons A proxy tool works on a customizable sites list!

[webfork]

Version 3 came out a few weeks ago:

http://www.democrakey.com/

The big changes are mostly just in updates to the included software. It won't be interesting to seasoned PFWC'ers just because we can easily build something like this ourselves. Still, it might be a good little tool to get your security conscious friends on to portable software or visa versa.