What threat do viruses, trojans, scripting attacks, exploits, etc, pose to Tails users? More specifically, supposing the system gets compromised by an attacker(hacker who isn't specifically trying to nail Tor/Tails users) what are the odds my real IP will get leaked?

Also, what are the possible attack vectors? Assuming I have NoScript set to disallow Javascript and don't download any files.

What threat do viruses, trojans, scripting attacks, exploits, etc, pose to Tails users?

I don't think much is specific to Tails on this topic.

Also, what are the possible attack vectors?

Roughly the same as a regular Debian system. See security for historical data.

Comment by Anonymous Mon 03 Dec 2012 04:41:41 PM CET
Well, in what way do these exploits, malware, etc, undermine anonymity in Tails? Should your computer get infect/compromised, does that mean your real IP will get leaked?
Comment by Anonymous Tue 04 Dec 2012 03:28:12 AM CET

Should your computer get infect/compromised, does that mean your real IP will get leaked?

If that's the adversary's goal, they can probably achieve it somehow.

This is, in part, a drawback of allowing accesses to resources on the LAN (which is needed for certain usecases).

Comment by Tails Tue 04 Dec 2012 11:24:44 AM CET

It might(?) depend on the router type but malware could query your router to return your external IP address. There are utilities to do this. I am hoping the specific protocol that can do it are blocked in Tails.

The good news: Linux in general is still far less affected by viruses and trojans than Win or Mac. In nine years of linux use I have never had a single virus than I know of.

My guess is that the biggest threat to anonymity on Tails (and indeed elsewhere) are probably:

  1. Social engineering attacks which trick the user into revealing their identity or installing a trojan/malware which then either breaks firewall rules or queries your router to determine your ext IP address.

  2. Browser fingerprinting attacks.

  3. Attacks on the tor network such as a malicious site that takes advantage of a browser vulnerability to circumvent tor or end-to-end timing attacks.

Comment by Anonymous Tue 04 Dec 2012 02:59:24 PM CET