To tails, or not to tails : OpSec | Torhoo darknet markets

Tails is fine for DNM purchase. If you have worries, consider how you connect. If you take the extra effort and connect from a WiFi at a small dinner or coffee shop you will be more safe. Blend in with, students, remote workers and tourists. Use only cash and do not bring any phones or gadgets with out and you will be fine.

See /post/f12b38fc9337bce6ae34

There's other methods than "microwaving" also. I like Keypad USB PIN drives like the Kingston Ironkey keypad.

I also prefer Whonix over Tails, but Tails is a great starting point over Windows/Mac.

Based on my prior understanding of how microwaves work, I would not expect that they would even cause any bit flips even if the internal flash chip of the pen drive were exposed to the radiation.

Furthermore, from searching, there appears to be some consensus and even anecdotal reports that microwaving a USB drive is ineffective at wiping the data:

> Despite what Hollywood and other entertainment media may have taught us, microwaving your flash drive does not guarantee the full destruction of its data. This method simply isn’t reliable or effective, for your USD, SSD, or any other storage drive for that matter. If anything, you might end ruining your microwave instead.
>
> It might have been the case with older flash drives, but modern ones made to be quite durable. At best, if you manage to take it out of its casing, you could fry its circuits, but then, as mentioned earlier, it would make it harder, but not impossible, for someone to access the stored data.

- https://www.newjerseyshredding.com/2020/09/22/how-to-destroy-data-on-a-flash-drive-permanently

https://superuser.com/questions/373288/will-microwaving-a-flash-drive-destroy-the-data-on-it

https://darwinsdata.com/how-do-you-safely-destroy-a-flash-drive

> Microwaving flash drives has become a popular data destruction method, likely due to its portrayal in TV and movies. However, research shows microwaving does not reliably destroy data on flash drives.
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> According to Will microwaving a flash drive destroy the data on it?, microwaving flash drives can damage the gates in the flash memory chips, but may not destroy all data if the chips have shielding.
>
> How to Destroy Data on a Flash Drive Permanently? also warns that microwaving does not guarantee full data destruction. The intense heat can melt plastic casing but may not penetrate far enough into the internal chips.

and yeah, I can look at my own USB drives... they're all wrapped in enough metal and plastic that it's unlikely to get deep enough anyways.

For data destruction, I would recommend using a simple, cheap, external spinning disk hard drive.

As for the question, how about being in a crunch for time, and wanting to avoid the learning overhead of using Tails? Or what if you already have good opsec and practices without Tails? It's not a silver bullet, after all.

Tails and Qubes both have different purposes and features. For a buyer, the Tails is fine. If you need to work with files, have a networking under control, run Monero node, various SimpleX accounts, churn your crypto and so on, use Qubes.