Tails 2.0 fixes many security issues

Tails is a live operating system, that you can start on almost any computer from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card. It aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity.

Tails 2.0 is the first version of Tails based on: GNOME Shell (with changes in the desktop environment) and Debian 8, which upgrades most included software and improves many things under the hood.

This release fixes many security issues and users should upgrade as soon as possible:

Details

Upgrades and changes

Debian 8 upgrades most included software, for example:

  • Many core GNOME utilities from 3.4 to 3.14: Files, Disks, Videos, etc.
  • LibreOffice from 3.5 to 4.3
  • PiTiVi from 0.15 to 0.93
  • Git from 1.7.10 to 2.1.4
  • Poedit from 1.5.4 to 1.6.10
  • Liferea from 1.8.6 to 1.10

Update Tor Browser to 5.5 (based on Firefox 38.6.0 ESR):

  • Add Japanese support.

Remove the Windows camouflage which is currently broken in GNOME Shell.

Change to systemd as init system and use it to:

  • Sandbox many services using Linux namespaces and make them harder to exploit.
  • Make the launching of Tor and the memory wipe on shutdown more robust.
  • Sanitize our code base by replacing many custom scripts.

Update most firmware packages which might improve hardware compatibility.

Notify the user if Tails is running from a non-free virtualization software.

Remove Claws Mail, replaced by Icedove, a rebranded version of Mozilla Thunderbird.

Don't miss