View Full Version : Liberte Linux
Badger52
03-28-2013, 11:09
https://dee.su/liberte
Wondered if anyone has been playing around with this.
Initial goals were a bootable hardened OS on a thumbdrive, so I'd acquired a 32GB specimen just in case. I also wanted to be able store a large variety of references (e-books, pdf's, etc.) on the thing, hence the size. I don't have as many as Sigaba (http://professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=454908&postcount=15) so it turns out I may have over-engineered the size just a tad.
Ostensibly worked up by some Russians back when they were operating in a truly hostile environment and the term 'hacker' was an honorific. Well supported to this day. It seems pretty hardened, but pretty much plug & play although a bit of thought is good before you run the setup batch file, such as:
Think of a strong password before you start because you will get asked this at setup, and anytime you mount the thumbdrive to boot into Linux.
Think of how you want your regular files to look that aren't part of the OS's directory structure.
Find out what key(s) interrupt the boot sequence of your computer so you can tell it to boot off the thumbdrive.
Turns out the OS only needs to eat up about 230MB of the drive and I left it on the 4GB model I tested, and still have plenty left for file storage, which is regular FAT32 stuff, racked & stacked how I want. The OS will look into and use those files; when in the OS that file structure is under the /boot directory. The thumbdrive can also be used conventionally when just running Windoze.
Setting it up is ridiculously easy (an attractor). Simply download the bundle, EXTRACT it (not run or open) TO the root level of the thumbdrive, run the setup.bat file that gets placed there, and you're done. Then SHUTDOWN (as in, OFF) the computer, and turn it back on AND INTERRUPT the bootup sequence so you can select the thumbdrive to boot from instead of your regular hard-drive.
Most of the way through that nice old-school scrolling you'll get prompted for the strong password you thought up. Upon setting that up it will mount your thumbdrive as an encrypted volume and you'll get to the Liberte' Linux desktop. You will get asked for that password anytime it is asked to boot up.
There is a good editor built-in similar to Word (but about 10x faster), it will recognize presence of a wired or wireless LAN, it has a Tor-ified browser built-in (Epiphany) and runs pretty good so far. Upon clicking the far left desktop icon you can get options to reboot, shutdown, etc. It also has a 'claws' mail application for peer-to-peer email w/o an email server in the middle between other like systems. (More to research on this.)
The shutdown sequence will dismount the volume, clean up any traces, and then the screen will halt dead at the end of that scrolling. Unplug thumbdrive, finish your java (no pun) and go about your travels. Or reboot yourself back into whatever your home computer's mainstream OS is.
Seems so far to make a nice grayman type of OS for when out/about the hinterlands. Just wondered if anyone else running it and if they had any tips, gotchas, nice workarounds.
Many thanks - I've been looking for a good solution like this, and hadn't had much luck with Puppy Linux.
https://dee.su/liberte
It also has a 'claws' mail application for peer-to-peer email w/o an email server in the middle between other like systems.
How does that work?
perdurabo
03-28-2013, 13:21
How does that work?
Looks like Tor and I2P another anonymous networking stack using X.509 certs and Tor-style addressing for "e-mail" addresses.
http://dee.su/cables
Badger52
03-28-2013, 13:24
Edit: after typing & seeing perdurabo's post, THANK you.
How does that work?No idea Dusty but it's intriguing, and is on my ferret list for this weekend if I can survive the deluge of Easter Bunny hunters coming over...
Claws being an application, I think that stations running that system are identified in some way across the network, much the way a Tor-ified browser builds its picture of Tor-relays when it fires up & goes hopping about the globe.* It apparently does support core PGP functions & has a news-reader as well. The potential can't be ignored so I need to dig more. Unfortunately what I know about Claws right now is worth less than a box of small rifle primers.
It seems Claws as an app (http://www.claws-mail.org/) isn't unique to this version of Linux (there's a Windows version) so I'd be interested in reviews from anyone who's running it & not paid by some magazine advertiser to write nice things. I just need to dig more.
* Think Google (including one's Gmail account) doesn't keep track of your computer & where they expect you to be coming from? Just come in with a Tor-ified browser that says you're now in Ceylon (sorry, Sri Lanka).
:cool:
DIYPatriot
03-28-2013, 13:32
How does that work?
In a system I developed, we had secure and un-secure methods of transmission. Since the only major differences were encryption and failed message delivery, I'll just point out the overview of how our systems operated, securely, in a Peer to Peer email system.
Let's say that Dusty wants to send an email, bragging about a recent barehanded pig kill where he jumped out of a tree with a knife between his teeth, to Barbarian. They each have their own laptop (we'll call each laptop a node) and are connected to a network (even this can be secured or not). For grins, let's say they are on a public network. Each node has a unique ID. This unique ID, or node ID, is registered in an encrypted data store. An application or background look-up service (as I refer to it) provides authentication and queries to this list.
Each person has an email address that has been bound to a certificate provided by a trusted third party. Each certificate contains a public key. The assumption, at this point, is that each person has access to a private key on their computer (used later to decrypt the encrypted message they receive).
Using the custom email application that has been tailored for this sort of thing, the inbox only stores notifications that a message has been received. The content of the actual message is not stored in this notification. However, it resides elsewhere in a secured manner with a special id. Later on, you'll see some benefits to this.
Message Creation:
Dusty creates a new message and types in Barbarian's email address. The look-up service is running in the background and authenticates Barbarian's email address and retrieves the key associated with it; extracting his public key.
A session key is generated and used to encrypt the contents of the message. Next, a message ID is generated in order to uniquely identify the message (for retrieval OR as our clients love this feature - removal prior to or after a message has been sent). Ever send something to the wrong person? Or wish you could truly recall a message? Well, now you can if you utilize this. It's no longer "throw it over the fence and wait for the boom". Some of our messages have expiration timers and that sort of thing. Also, they can't be forwarded if that user does not have the rights to forward their messages or a particular message that the sender did not want forwarded.
Once the message is mapped to a key and everything is encrypted and ready to be "sent" - remember, the message body and notification are two separate entities, then the encrypted message is stored on the closest node. In order for this to work, in real time, the nodes have to be powered on and connected. After the message has been sent, the retrieval function will begin.
Message Retrieval
Barbarian cranks up his email client and checks for new messages. How? The app queries the background/look-up service to find any missed messages so that it may be synchronized. This background service keeps a tab on available nodes at all times, complete with any messages that are destined for Barbarian.
If an email has been obtained, then that message is retrieved and decrypted with the session key that the original sender inserted into the message. The original sender is unaware of this, as is the recipient, since the application does this for both parties. All they ever see is a computer screen with a slick little form.
Upon successful message reception, the background service updates itself so that it won't deliver the same message over and over. This is where things can get fun. Remember when I said that a sender can zap an errant message or prevent that message from being forwarded and shared? This is where that technology is leveraged. True, it must also exist in the email client, it is the actual service that plays God.
There's a WHOLE lot more to this than what I typed. I wanted to provide a mid-level view of my particular implementation of P2P emailing capabilities.
Please bear in mind that there are other ways of achieving this. I've written direct socket communication apps (think chat/instant messaging) and I've written apps that require a physical interface, such as a dongle with encrypted information on it, that must exist in order to authenticate the sending and receiving of messages. The sky is the limit.
BTW...I would bet my next month's pay that my way is not the best way, but I know it works. There are many before me that are truly the experts in this field. I'm sure some 13 year old at MIT could do this in her sleep. I just had to throw something together for a client when we were dealing with an extremely sensitive issue and time, as well as urgency, was a critical factor. Since then, things have evolved.
Badger52
03-28-2013, 16:14
In a system I developed,... whole post.OK, that was so good I'm givin' you a pass for putting Dusty in the same message text with Rosie O'Donnell.
:D
Seriously, thank you. As I dig into this - and my goal is to remain at what I hope will be a simple implementation of Claws - the functionality you described will be a big help when it comes time this weekend (hopefully) to play with it. A very brief read of the install seems to pre-suppose some things but I'll nug it out. What could go wrong?
Question RE latency (or maybe lack of it). In terms of the nodality of the traffic stream, the actual service level achieved sounds like it could be similar to WINLINK, where someone connected might send a message via com'l internet to a relay in Perth, AUS and I can fire up the HF, hit a CONUS relay and the message is there in literally a few minutes, or will still be there later if I choose to wait.
Thanks again. I'm seeing several uses for this capability.
Gotta go get a ham sandwich...
You two bear watching. ;)
Dragbag036
03-28-2013, 17:23
Each person has an email address that has been bound to a certificate provided by a trusted third party. Each certificate contains a public key. The assumption, at this point, is that each person has access to a private key on their computer (used later to decrypt the encrypted message they receive).
My question may not make since, but I will ask as I am a nug.
1.Who is the Third party who holds your certificate? And from my understanding, unless you are the terminal (third party storage), then you have the ability for compromise.
2. How/what type of encryption is placed in the message, and how would the other individual know that this is the key?
3. Is the email decryption taking place in a persistent/non-persistent area of your os thumbdrive/partition drive?
Just trying to get it straight in my head.
Badger52
03-28-2013, 17:48
It seems the distribution of Liberte Linux already establishes both types of addresses (both Tor and I2P) if you wish, viewable by the pop-up located in the menu right above the Claws client selection for Yr Hmbl Idiot. They are long godawful hashes, but the client system takes care of remembering them anyway. The Claws client already has the Tor version embedded for you.
I'll just have to find someone to send a test message to as it "appears" to my untrained eye to be setup. This will be a weekend play & fingers x'd it remains something simple enough to also dump on a thumbdrive and teachable to someone else.
DIYP: If you've got a Tor or I2P address can you PM that to me and perhaps I can get a test done of this thing this weekend? I don't know if there is a way to test the functionality absent that the way GnuPG has with Adele in Germany standing by with her nice acknowledgements.
Badger52
03-28-2013, 18:22
Dragbag your questions are great ones & well above 'nug' level imo.
I'm curious to see any answers to them. The mail client supports PGP as an add-in & GnuPG is easy enough to add-in. But the assumption of the embedded encryption has me both concerned & intrigued.
A plain-vanilla implementation of PGP (in my case GnuPG for Windoze) and where I don't even publish my public key & use only when necessary seems both simpler, and it works. And using that I can use any mail relay I choose.
Thanks for asking. I like the OS and its bootable capability and the embedded Epiphany browser, but not sold on the cables mail mechanism.
Much to learn.
There's also a portable suitcase for field satellite internet some guys put together over there for Arab springers you might wish to look into.
Liberte sounds like a nice all included nix, being a control freak I build my own hardened OS with Gentoo but will check it out on a USB...
Thanks badger..
PS:
If you can use AES with really long passwords and sent it with RSA
DIYPatriot
03-28-2013, 21:52
Question RE latency (or maybe lack of it). In terms of the nodality of the traffic stream, the actual service level achieved sounds like it could be similar to WINLINK, where someone connected might send a message via com'l internet to a relay in Perth, AUS and I can fire up the HF, hit a CONUS relay and the message is there in literally a few minutes, or will still be there later if I choose to wait.
Thanks again. I'm seeing several uses for this capability.
Gotta go get a ham sandwich...
In our implementation, the latency was exactly as you described. The original msg would persist at the nearest node b/c I designed it to broadcast to all connected and available/authenticated nodes. Once the message was retreived and downloaded (if applicable...remember the earlier security controls to prevent unwanted forwarding, etc) it would be removed from the background listener's archive of available messages for download to the peer. The message would persist until the recipient retrieved it via synchronization requests OR it could expire or be removed on the fly by the original sender or an admin level person. Apologies for the delay or any typos. I'm in the field and using a touchscreen
In our implementation, the latency was exactly as you described. The original msg would persist at the nearest node b/c I designed it to broadcast to all connected and available/authenticated nodes. Once the message was retreived and downloaded (if applicable...remember the earlier security controls to prevent unwanted forwarding, etc) it would be removed from the background listener's archive of available messages for download to the peer. The message would persist until the recipient retrieved it via synchronization requests OR it could expire or be removed on the fly by the original sender or an admin level person. Apologies for the delay or any typos. I'm in the field and using a touchscreen
I'm curious and from an engineering standpoint..what language did you build it with?
Hate the touch screens and auto complete...
DIYPatriot
03-28-2013, 22:19
My question may not make since, but I will ask as I am a nug.
1.Who is the Third party who holds your certificate? And from my understanding, unless you are the terminal (third party storage), then you have the ability for compromise.
2. How/what type of encryption is placed in the message, and how would the other individual know that this is the key?
3. Is the email decryption taking place in a persistent/non-persistent area of your os thumbdrive/partition drive?
Just trying to get it straight in my head.
You can't be any more of a nug than I. Each day, it seems, I learn just exactly how little I know. To answer your q's I'll try my best. I'm low on sig and pwr at the moment.
1. No matter what, you're ALWAYS open for compromise. Nothing is fool proof. Our third party is VeriSign. We've used them on many endeavors and they're kinda the industry std on this sort of thing. Ultimately, we wrote several checks and balances, including the key stored on the master dongle. Think of roaming code garage door openers. Just short of biometrics, its pretty secure. No breaches that I'm aware of to date.
2. We employed an AES scheme. To answer the 2nd part of ur question, please try this link (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_encryption). I learn with hands on experience or pictures. On my cell, I see a decent example of how public/private keys work.
3. Originally, it took place in memory bc our eqpt did not have a thumb drive and we weren't guaranteed a dedicated partition. Besides, in the event something or someone was compromised, the app could (and did) wipe its memory after use. I believe they've changed this since I initially worked on this project.
I can't stress enough that I am not the final authority on this topic. I just have real world experience delivering a solution when no one else on my team had a clue what to do. Time was critical. When I think back on it, I see some areas we could've improved and others we mightve over developed for fear of compromise.
DIYPatriot
03-28-2013, 22:32
I'm curious and from an engineering standpoint..what language did you build it with?
Hate the touch screens and auto complete...
C# on the back-end and a little VB for the front-end. Both utlize the same/similar CLI, we wrote a version in Java just bc we had a client that only ran Linux based systems and didn't want any part of microsoft related products. So, we rolled with that and ddi what they needed us to do.
And I agree touchscreens and autocomplete are no fun at times...all times ;)
DIYPatriot
03-28-2013, 22:36
DIYP: If you've got a Tor or I2P address can you PM that to me and perhaps I can get a test done of this thing this weekend? I don't know if there is a way to test the functionality absent that the way GnuPG has with Adele in Germany standing by with her nice acknowledgements.
Ha! I'm leaning against a rock face and freezing tonight. I'm stunned I have any sig out here. I may be able to help u when I'm home next week. All I have is my droid at the moment and I'm 'bout to shut it down to save pwr
C# on the back-end and a little VB for the front-end. Both utlize the same/similar CLI, we wrote a version in Java just bc we had a client that only ran Linux based systems and didn't want any part of microsoft related products. So, we rolled with that and ddi what they needed us to do.
And I agree touchscreens and autocomplete are no fun at times...all times ;)
Thank you I appreciate the response, love CLI Linux even have graphical one that gets used sometimes.
Have to say I'm a FPC fan (hides in corner), C# is a good alternative...have to get mono up one of these days.
Good job
Nexus 7 here :D
DIYPatriot
03-28-2013, 22:46
Thank you I appreciate the response, love CLI Linux even have graphical one that gets used sometimes.
Have to say I'm a FPC fan (hides in corner), C# is a good alternative...have to get mono up one of these days.
Good job
Thanks! And I feel ya! I found that I had to change with the times in order to stay on the cutting edge of things. In the early 2000's, I was one a team writing interfaces to BaseStar, in straight up C w/text editors and no debuggers) on a bunch of old Compaq alphas utilizing Open VMS II( for a robotics client) and then I was thrown at COBOL while my buddies got to play with other things. Little did I know that embracing the suck would pay dividends a decade later. I learned more from hating life than living it up. Gotta roll!
You know that Droid is built off of gentoo
, Skype with Delphi, and the fastest computers (petaflops) run on
various concretions of Iinux. I figured you do... and most cutting edge occurs on Linux based systems. The exception is the camera based thingy on win8.
Normally this asm based engineer wouldn't comment but you may wish to keep it in mind for the future, especially with businesses cool welcome of win8. I need to use win7 on my liquid cooled cyber power but it would be five times as fast on nix and more stable.
Hopefully you'll take this as intended, all of us have very much to learn, always..
I liked Cobol too....
Badger52
03-29-2013, 03:40
DIYP: Thanks for your input back, enjoy your time in the field. I'll continue to look through the various tools that are bundled with the OS, which Claws was just one of, along with just implementing GnuPG & try to do a compare with the Win version which runs pretty good.
Happy trails. :)
ERRATA
Couple links to a couple of different reviews:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20120820
http://www.hacker10.com/internet-anonymity/anonymous-internet-surfing-with-liberte-linux/
Regarding one of the review comments, I've also noted the mouse/pointer hyperactivity as well, and have to reset it to a much lower sensitivity each time upon bootup. Slight PITA, but it does work adjusting the sensitivity from the Mouse & Keyboard preferences for the desktop and stays that way. Probably some way to make that setting stick, but haven't found it. Right now just whackin' the mole & it's way down on the list.
After some deliberation I'm not going to get distracted, for now, obsessing on one bundled application (Claws) that I didn't care about in the first place. The goal is a hardened extremely portable OS for secure browsing amidst a hostile and/or very unsecured environment, using the standard infrastructure available in most of the world, and easily implemented/fielded. Using the existing implementation in the OS of GnuPG and its graphic front-end GPA, any regular provider works since whatever's encrypted (or not) is simply a payload. The key (pun intended) will be to see how well the GnuPG implementation does pulling my existing key-pair from its Windowized brother. I have no problem generating another key-pair for use in this OS, and could even make the passphrase the same; but the underlying key would be different & it'd be nice to have that continuity. Will see how the gpg import facility works. Claws isn't off the list, just further down.
Dragbag036
03-29-2013, 13:57
You can't be any more of a nug than I. Each day, it seems, I learn just exactly how little I know. To answer your q's I'll try my best. I'm low on sig and pwr at the moment.
1. No matter what, you're ALWAYS open for compromise. Nothing is fool proof. Our third party is VeriSign. We've used them on many endeavors and they're kinda the industry std on this sort of thing. Ultimately, we wrote several checks and balances, including the key stored on the master dongle. Think of roaming code garage door openers. Just short of biometrics, its pretty secure. No breaches that I'm aware of to date.
2. We employed an AES scheme. To answer the 2nd part of ur question, please try this link (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_encryption). I learn with hands on experience or pictures. On my cell, I see a decent example of how public/private keys work.
3. Originally, it took place in memory bc our eqpt did not have a thumb drive and we weren't guaranteed a dedicated partition. Besides, in the event something or someone was compromised, the app could (and did) wipe its memory after use. I believe they've changed this since I initially worked on this project.
I can't stress enough that I am not the final authority on this topic. I just have real world experience delivering a solution when no one else on my team had a clue what to do. Time was critical. When I think back on it, I see some areas we could've improved and others we mightve over developed for fear of compromise.
I appreciate the explanations. I will look up your suggestions. In my minimum research, I have created a bootable thumb, that was very easy to do using umbuntu. This comes in handy when using third party computers. I also just created partitions on normal laptops, that you would need to do in a certain progression to make work, however, this doesn't look normal. And lastly, creating a "node" with simple encryption "i.e. like Dropbox.
What is your take on the Iron Key's that are out there? In the beginning it made sense, but if I'm not mistaken, they now have the ability if you lock yourself out, to third party your info...seems pointless.
Thanks again...Im just a Bravo, reclass Delta, that someone let become a Zulu:D
Badger52
03-30-2013, 09:38
Thanks again...Im just a Bravo, reclass Delta, that someone let become a Zulu:DI'd never qualify those credentials with 'just' - Salud! :cool:
Your post above states the primary tool I was looking for:
Something easy to configure, low payload requirement, portable, and a preventive to the typical condition of someone else's computer.
As mentioned in the errata above, I think Claws is an interesting capability but seems (to my humble eye) to be more specialized. Certainly, a specific community of users all running that could have a tool in common.
Some follow-up of this version of Linux reveals a couple of other included tools that are convenient. There is a very nice dual-windowed file manager, and the Gnu Privacy Assistant (GPA) is included & already setup right off the tools menu. This latter is the graphic interface that is included in the same product for Windows and makes PGP generation & management very easy for those who don't want to nug through the typical unix command-line syntax. It will walk you right through generating your public & private key pair and, of course, the nice thing is that one need not publish this to any server.
In practice, you're not going to be getting my public key tacked on to every email from me. If we need to do that kind of thing, we can exchange them (and GPA will manage those). The GPA will also take care of encrypting individual files if you simply want to attach that file to a regular email. I didn't need to generate anything new because my archived key-pair (from doing them in the Windows version) was still sitting there and I just pulled that file into the Linux version. Test with encrypted email attachment connectinig via the included browser & receipt and decryption when running back in Windows was seamless. The inclusion of the GPA is nice because, with very little coaching to generate a strong passphrase a couple of times, many can make use of this.
So a person really could load up a thumbdrive while in Windows with tons of their favorite references, whether it's the USMC antenna handbook or the FM on use of pack animals or a boatload of good books, clearly delineate the top of the Windows file structure, and then leave some room and put the Liberte Linux on. I'd leave a gig for dumping the Linux on because, when in Linux & on the web, that's where any downloads are going to go. But it actually runs on very little.
In fact, if one wanted to really make it smaller, just use an SD chip (4GB is probably plenty) and stick it into one of these. (http://www.spy-coins.com/products.htm) Depending upon locale it may be advisable to keep a USB-SD dongle along in case the computer in use doesn't have the SD interface but does have a USB port.
Couple of (maybe) gotchas noted:
When running in the Linux, if you download something you want access to later in Windows, put it there now; once the secure volume dismounts when you do a shutdown, Windows will NOT be able to see anything into the Linux file structure beyong the basic list of (empty) folders. That's a good thing.
Also, if you work in MS-Word alot, store them as PDFs, or save them as an older version of Word, with a 'doc' extension before moving them on to your tavelling storage. The current version of Word saves them as 'docx' unless you specify the slightly older version (using 'Save As...') - danger Will Robinson! The Linux will see that 'docx' file extension and think it's a file cabinet and want to create a bunch of sub-folders under it but you'll play hell actually using your file. Words (and file extensions) matter.
So pretty satisfied, the price is right, the basic capabilities I was looking for are there, and it's easy enough for my ham-fisted brain to wrap around. And, we continue to see that MS is the target of choice for belligerents so running something else is the equivalent of having one's belly that much closer to the ground. Making yourself small has its place in the cyber world too.
Now I need to think of a use for the 32GB worth of storage on the thumbdrive I thought I'd need....
:rolleyes:
Badger52,
Thanks for posting, I will take a look at this. Personally, I use a customized version of Slackware(hardened kernel using grsec[1] and core libraries built using a hardened toolchain[2] - primarily SSP and PIE enabled) with the LinuxLive scripts to enable USB boot. LUKS[3] for file and swap encryption. Note that with PGP/GPG, you still need to verify the key ID and fingerprint with the intended recipient in order to ensure non-repudiation. The idea behind 3rd party certificate signers(i.e. Verisign) was to remove the individual need for verification, unfortunately, due to both breaches[4], and gray area policy[5](issuing intermediate certificates to non-CA's), these companies are subject to trust issues as well. Always trust but verify, your systems are only as secure as the weakest link in the chain.
My .02
[1] www.grsecurity.net
[2] http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/hardened/hardened-toolchain.xml
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Unified_Key_Setup
[4] http://www.securityweek.com/lessons-learned-diginotar-comodo-and-rsa-breaches
[5] http://blog.spiderlabs.com/2012/02/clarifying-the-trustwave-ca-policy-update.html
Badger52
04-09-2013, 03:55
Thanks for the references.
DIYPatriot
04-11-2013, 14:18
I appreciate the explanations. I will look up your suggestions. In my minimum research, I have created a bootable thumb, that was very easy to do using umbuntu. This comes in handy when using third party computers. I also just created partitions on normal laptops, that you would need to do in a certain progression to make work, however, this doesn't look normal. And lastly, creating a "node" with simple encryption "i.e. like Dropbox.
What is your take on the Iron Key's that are out there? In the beginning it made sense, but if I'm not mistaken, they now have the ability if you lock yourself out, to third party your info...seems pointless.
Thanks again...Im just a Bravo, reclass Delta, that someone let become a Zulu:D
I'm humbled to share my experiences. The candid and no BS info on this site has given me far greater information in return and made me a better person in several areas of my life.
My take on the protected/encrypted usb's and other storage media is that they serve a good purpose based on need and level of security warranted. Do I envision launch codes on such a device? Not from a commercially available one. Would I feel secure keeping financial data and other personal data on them? Yes, I have done this.
I'm rarely in a position where I utilize public computers or non-trusted ones. If I were, I'd be mindful of key loggers and that sort of thing when accessing online data storage solutions. From physical devices that monitor the actual serial I/O to malware - you really have to be cautious. This is where secured storage come into play.
Check this one out (http://www.ironkey.com/en-US/secure-portable-storage/h200-biometric.html). It's pretty slick and provides a great deal of flexibility for the truly security conscious.