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'''Tails''' [[operating system]] ('''TAILS OS''') is short for '''The Amnestic Incognito Live System.''' It is actually a host of [[computer]] OS tools-utilities to help the user remain [[anonymous]].  It runs on [[Linux]], but uses a nice [[GUI]] so which is easy to master.  It has a [[free software]] version of [[Microsoft Office]] called [[Open Office]].  It is based on [[Tor]],  but Tails also mates Tor with a read only [[DVD]] called a “live CD” or [[USB]] that boots and runs the system under a special secure and anonymous version of [[Debian]] [[Linux]] operating system called Amnestic.

'''Tails''' [[operating system]] ('''TAILS OS''') is short for '''The Amnestic Incognito Live System.''' It is actually a host of [[computer]] OS tools-utilities to help the user remain anonymous.  It runs on [[Linux]], but uses a nice [[GUI]] so which is easy to master.  It has a [[free software]] version of [[Microsoft Office]] called [[Open Office]].  It is based on [[Tor]],  but Tails also mates Tor with a read only [[DVD]] called a “live CD” or [[USB]] that boots and runs the system under a special secure and anonymous version of [[Debian]] [[Linux]] operating system called Amnestic.

Tails is basically a “throw away” operating system. One of the things that has been exposed, time and time again is that “…adversaries with global reach…” [[surveillance|track computer use]] in a myriad of ways.  With most operating systems, entities can put tracking [[cookies]] or markers on a computer, loaded from [[website]]s as the user visits them. These then “report back” everywhere the user go on the [[Internet]].  This is one way Tor can be circumvented.  If your computer is already compromised (we call it “owned”) then nothing else you do can keep you secure.  Once the entity has a tracking cookie or [[trojan horse|hackware]] on a computer, the entity can then build a very expansive history of the user's Internet activities.  Tails goes a long way to preventing that.  The traditional counter-measure is disabling cookies, but that will not work against any decent [[hacker]], since half the time hackers don’t use cookies.  While [[VPN]]s prevent interception of data during the transfer on the Internet, VPNs are only useful in protecting [[anonymity]] if the [[VPN]] operator is not hacked and is willing to resist government subpeonas.  They are not.<ref>https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/39788/how-can-you-be-caught-using-private-vpn-when-theres-no-logs-about-who-you-are Accessed December 6, 2014</ref> For example, one hacker named Cody Krestsinger known online as Recursion now in jailed and tracked down through the [[United Kingdom]] based HideMyAss VPN service because Krestsinger reportedly defaced an [[FBI]] website.   

Tails is basically a “throw away” operating system. One of the things that has been exposed, time and time again is that “…adversaries with global reach…” [[surveillance|track computer use]] in a myriad of ways.  With most operating systems, entities can put tracking [[cookies]] or markers on a computer, loaded from [[website]]s as the user visits them. These then “report back” everywhere the user go on the [[Internet]].  This is one way Tor can be circumvented.  If your computer is already compromised (we call it “owned”) then nothing else you do can keep you secure.  Once the entity has a tracking cookie or [[trojan horse|hackware]] on a computer, the entity can then build a very expansive history of the user's Internet activities.  Tails goes a long way to preventing that.  The traditional counter-measure is disabling cookies, but that will not work against any decent [[hacker]], since half the time hackers don’t use cookies.  While [[VPN]]s prevent interception of data during the transfer on the Internet, VPNs are only useful in protecting [[anonymity]] if the [[VPN]] operator is not hacked and is willing to resist government subpeonas.  They are not.<ref>https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/39788/how-can-you-be-caught-using-private-vpn-when-theres-no-logs-about-who-you-are Accessed December 6, 2014</ref> For example, one hacker named Cody Krestsinger known online as Recursion now in jailed and tracked down through the [[United Kingdom]] based HideMyAss VPN service because Krestsinger reportedly defaced an [[FBI]] website.