The verdict
Up until the Edward Snowden leaks, the proponents of privacy attacks were considered digital outlaws on the wrong side of the law by the mainstream. However, it’s now been recognised that we’re in the midst of an information age where invading our privacy is not only a popular business model but statesponsored practice.
Given the US government’s track record when it comes to ensuring privacy, it’s difficult to recommend the TENS distro, even more so when there are far better alternatives on offer. One of these is Whonix, which uses a unique compartmentalised approach to ensuring privacy. While we can imagine experienced privacy campaigners putting in the effort required to set it up, we don’t expect the same from new users who probably don’t fully grasp the issues involved. It is the distros’s technical superiority which puts it at odds with the usability offered by some of its peers such as Tails, which is one of the best-known distros for anonymity and privacy. It’s built around the Tor network, is regularly updated and equips you with the right tools for covering your tracks online.
However, both Linux Kodachi and Subgraph OS overshadow the rest in terms of the privacy protection they both offer. They both use sandboxed environments to isolate applications from each other and limit the footprint on a system, which makes them some of the best means to shield yourself and your data. Both distros are also built around the Tor network but Subgraph edges Kodachi in terms of the software bundles that it offers.
Subgraph OS is steered by a team of developers that have a proven track record of developing security-centric apps and it’s even endorsed by Snowden. Furthermore, Subgraph recently received 12 months of development support from the Open Technology Fund. Despite its early developmental status, Subgraph works well but isn’t the winner since its own developers don’t yet recommend it for production use.
This leaves Linux Kodachi which is our recommendation. The distro isn’t easy to install but its bundled apps and use of routing the traffic via VPN before passing it through the Tor network adds an extra layer of protection, and helps tilt the scales in its favour.