The Next Books

2024 is half-way over, and we are way overdue for a book status update. We like to be transparent about future book releases, as we know that might sway some readers to postpone a purchase, and others to pull the trigger. Many readers are asking about the next E-book release. After talking with my staff, I can now report that there will be NO new SUPPLEMENT PDF titles released for the rest of 2024. The current six supplemental guides cover most of the technical topics, and we will deliver updates to those as needed, as we have been doing. That brings us to 2025.

OSINT Techniques:

The current (10th) edition of OSINT Techniques was written in 2022 and released January 1st, 2023. Until then, we had been releasing a new edition every year on that date in order to provide training manuals for numerous universities, colleges, academies, and private instructors. In late 2023, many people reached out and inquired about a new edition for 2024. Our response was a firm "NO". We had reached the page count limit by KDP and our Amazon account had been suspended for somehow being a shady character (I tried to order my own book). On top of that, we had been testing the waters with E-book releases, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. We released the Virtual Machines and Breach Data guides to provide some much needed updates and carried on with the 10th Edition.

Here we are a year and a half later, and the requests for a new edition are still coming in. At first, it was still a "No", but a few things have changed. KDP has increased their page count limit, which allows us to revisit new content. Amazon has reinstated me on super secret probationary status, and they insist they will allow me to publish another book through KDP. Finally, and this is the big one, Jason Edison has agreed to co-write a new edition with me. He is actually going through every page of the book telling me what is now wrong, and what could be better. If all goes well, I anticipate the new 11th edition of OSINT Techniques will be released on January 1st, 2025. We plan to offer both print and digital copies and will incorporate everything from the two OSINT supplemental guides, the 10th edition of the print book, and all new training materials into one huge release. As always, we will provide free updates through the online book portal. As promised, we will continue to provide free updates to the supplemental OSINT digital guides as needed.

Extreme Privacy:

The current (4th) edition of Extreme Privacy was written in 2021 and released in 2022. That is an eternity ago, but the four digital supplemental guides have greatly increased the shelf-life of that book. We have been discussing a new edition for 2025 based on my outline of a completely rewritten book, which would provide much new content gleaned from the past three years of client work (without the complexity of choice and overwhelming options within the current book). My current outline has over 150 individual, isolated, chronological tasks which can be completed with less confusion. This allows us to offer more guided tutorials which eliminate an abundance of options. If all goes well, I anticipate the new 5th edition of Extreme Privacy (PDF) will be released in late 2024 or early 2025. This will not replace the digital supplements, but will offer a more concise overall action plan which may better suit most readers. Again, as promised, we will continue to provide free updates to all supplemental Privacy digital guides as needed.

Summary:

Expect new editions of OSINT Techniques and Extreme Privacy by early 2025.

Free updates will continue for all digital supplemental guides.

As always, thank you for letting us play a small role in your OSINT and Privacy journeys.

Digital Guide Updates 2024.07.01

Today, we updated several of our digital supplement guides. If you purchased any, please check your email for the download link(s). If you would like more information on these guides, please visit https://inteltechniques.com/books.html. The following provides details of each update:

Extreme Privacy-Mobile Devices:
Added minor clarifications and corrections throughout, but none impacting content.

Extreme Privacy-macOS Devices:
Page 60 (Minor): Added clarification about default SNI and ECH DNS configuration, and links to confirm protection.

Extreme Privacy-Linux Devices:
Page 50 (Minor): Added clarification about default SNI and ECH DNS configuration, and links to confirm protection.

Extreme Privacy-VPNs and Firewalls:
Page 58 (Minor): Added clarification to right-click the import file to download it.
Page 86 (Minor): Added clarification about default SNI and ECH DNS configuration, and links to confirm protection.

More Bad Gun Safe OPSEC

I have a dumb habit. Every time I enter any store which sells gun safes, I immediately check for personal exposure. I have blogged about this before. Today, I want to take things a step further. While walking through a store this week, I observed the following receipt taped to a large gun safe.

This $1600 gun safe is on layaway. Instead of setting it in the back, the store personnel simply taped a receipt on it displaying the future owners name and cell number. Let's query the number through a caller ID database.

We now know that "Allen" (from the receipt) likely has a spouse named "Hannah" (the cell phone owner), and I know the county they likely live in. A property search for those names in that county reveals the following.

 

I now know the likely location where this gun safe will be delivered in the near future. However, that does not get me INSIDE the safe. I tried another tactic. The following was displayed right next to the previous safe.

Once again, I have the name of the owner, but this time the sales associate was kind enough to include both a landline and cell on the ticket. The cell comes back to:

However, the landline returns to a small gun shop in the county (which had recently been burglarized):

 

I asked an associate if I could see the inside of the safe, as I was considering purchasing an identical unit. My hope was that the combination was present inside. Instead, she walked to the back and returned with all of the paperwork from that safe. As she entered the combination, she made sure to read it aloud for me to copy. If I were a burglar, I would have a new target for a safe-full of guns. Surprisingly, most owners of programmable safes never change the combination.

Please everyone, only purchase a gun safe with cash on the day you will retrieve it. Do not provide any name or loyalty number. If allowed, change the combination before use.

Darter Pro Part 2: Truly Secure Dual-Booting

This is a followup post from my original Darter Pro review.

The concept of dual-booting a computer is not new. Apple devices have had Bootcamp as an option to run both macOS and Windows natively from the same drive. In the late 90's I had Windows 98 and Linux partitions ready to boot at all times. The technology has been available a long time. However, SECURE dual-booting needs discussed more.

By default, a MacBook Pro with Bootcamp running Windows offers two isolated operating systems on one drive. You can choose which to load upon a reboot. Each operating system has its own partition on the overall drive and neither are encrypted by default. You could dual-boot a Windows computer to launch Linux from a separate partition just as easily. However, encryption can cause issues.

While it is possible to encrypt two systems within the same drive, it is problematic. We like to have true FULL-DISK encryption which makes the entire drive readable by only one system. There are tweaks which can allow for two PARTITION-ENCRYPTED systems within the same drive, but there will always be minor security sacrifices. This is where the new Darter Pro (and any other laptop with dual NVMe ports) provides a much better solution. You can add a second internal NVMe drive in order to possess two isolated systems, each with true full-disk encryption. The following are the steps I took to possess two secure versions of Pop!_OS on my machine, and encrypted Pop!_OS along with encrypted Windows 11 for a client.

First, I needed a second NVMe drive. I chose the Crucial 1 TB P3 Plus (https://amzn.to/4aC5vfC) for $69. However, I could have also just ordered a second drive from System76 and saved the headache. They would have installed it for me.

Next, I needed to open my new Darter Pro. This always makes me nervous, as I do not want to crack, chip, or break anything. Fortunately, the process was simple. I removed all eleven of the screws on the back cover, and within the grey ledge. The following displays the screws removed.

My first inclination was to remove the interior back-plate, which was wrong. I needed to remove the entire silver housing. I carefully separated the silver casing from the black casing, starting at the front of the laptop. I applied a plastic tool commonly used for cell phone repair to get in the crack, then carefully unsnapped each connector as I worked my way around the case. I could now access the interior, as seen in the following image.

 

The NVMe drive is seen in the lower-right, and the second NVMe slot can be seen in the upper-right. I removed the existing drive (to make sure I did not overwrite it) and placed the new 1 TB NVMe drive in the second slot. However, both drives can be seen in the following image.

I then inserted a Pop!_OS USB installer and installed Pop!_OS to the new drive. I activated full-disk encryption as the default option. After successful installation, I replaced the original drive back in the first slot. I then booted the computer and immediately pressed "Esc" to enter the coreboot BIOS. I selected "One Time Boot" and confirmed that both drives were selectable, as seen in the following image.

I tested booting to each and confirmed that they were unique versions of the OS within the different drives. I changed the boot process by changing the drives themselves in the boot order. I re-entered the BIOS, selected "Change Boot Order", and made the 1 TB the default boot option (in this case the SK hynix) and the 4 TB (Samsung) the secondary. The following displays my changes.

This is the drive (1 TB) which I will use as my personal machine. Whenever I want to boot to the 4 TB for breach work, I can press "Esc" upon boot and select it. My daily driver (1 TB) has a blue background (safe) while the breach data drive (4 TB) has a bright red background to remind me that I should not do anything personal within that drive. This allows me to stop carrying two laptops around while still having secure access to my data. If the laptop is lost, stolen, or seized, I have no concern about my data. Without the unique passwords I have assigned to each drive, which possess true full-disk encryption, the data is protected.

Let's think about this further. Each drive is encrypted and cannot see the other. I can completely trash my breach data drive with every known Linux virus, and know that nothing on it can touch my personal usage drive. While this is typically assumed to be the case with virtual machines as well, there are many known VM escapes which can breach the boundaries. I don't mind this when doing OSINT work in a VM on a dedicated OSINT machine, as there is minimal risk. However, I would never trust a VM to isolate malicious data while the sensitive personal host is running. Since I cannot boot both of these drives at the same time, I have no worries. This is the only real way to have complete isolation of data.

I repeated this process for a client who needed Linux as a daily driver, but also Window as an option. Specific software he needed to use is blocked within virtual machines, and he needed Windows running directly on the host. I installed Windows 11 to the second drive and activated BitLocker for the full-disk encryption. I then made the Linux drive the default for boot order, and he can reboot; press "Esc"; and select Windows whenever it is needed. Note that I had to install the Intel update program in order to fetch all of the wireless drivers. Dual booting can help ease the permanent transition from Windows to Linux. You will always know that you are a reboot away from the familiarity of Windows.

In hindsight, I should have just ordered a second drive with the machine. I would not have had to open it at all. Lesson learned, but it is great to have a laptop which I can open and modify the hardware. You can't do that with a Mac. Speaking of hardware ... The Darter Pro is the first dedicated Linux laptop I have owned which passes the one finger test. I am able to open the lid with one finger, and the rest of the body does not move. The laptop stays in place without bumping up off of the flat surface. I know that is very minor, but has always been a pet peeve of mine. My current MacBook Pro can't even do that.