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About Secure-OS

What this site is

Secure-OS publishes practical, threat-model-first guides to secure and private desktop computing: Qubes OS, Tails, Whonix, hardened Linux distributions and disk encryption. We write for people who need real answers — journalists, developers, admins, and anyone who has outgrown "just use antivirus" advice.

We are the editorial heir of the Secure Desktops project (2015), the mailing list where Qubes OS, Tails and Subgraph developers met to work on exactly these questions. That lineage shapes our methodology: security by threat models, not by marketing.

Our three pillars

• Secure operating systems. Qubes OS, Tails, Whonix — what each protects, what it doesn't, and how to choose.
• Disk and file encryption. LUKS2, VeraCrypt, full-disk setup, header backup, deniability — from first install to recovery.
• Operational practices. Linux hardening, sysctl, AppArmor/SELinux, verified boot — the supporting layer that makes secure OSes actually secure.

Editorial methodology

• Threat model first. No tool is "the most secure" in the abstract; every recommendation states what it protects against and what it doesn't.
• Dated and versioned. Articles cite specific software versions and carry publication dates. We do not publish timeless generalities.
• Sourced. Claims link to official documentation, audit reports, or primary sources. We do not repeat vendor marketing as fact.
• Open source bias, stated openly. Like the Secure Desktops charter that originated on this domain, we treat source availability as a precondition for trust.
• Honest limitations. Every guide includes a section on what the tool cannot do. The limitations section is not optional.

How the site is funded

Some links to privacy products are affiliate links — if you sign up through them, we earn a commission at no cost to you. Affiliate links are always marked with "sponsored · affiliate link", never placed in article introductions, and never influence a verdict. Details in our affiliate disclosure.

The heritage: Secure Desktops (2015–2017)

In October 2015, developers from Subgraph, Qubes OS and Tails met at a security conference and created the Secure Desktops mailing list, hosted at secure-os.org. For two years it was a working forum for the people actually building the most secure desktop systems in the world — Joanna Rutkowska (Qubes), sajolida and others from Tails, Patrick Schleizer (Whonix). The discussions were technical, frank, and productively critical of each other's designs.

The domain lapsed in 2017. We acquired it in 2026 and chose continuity over a blank slate: the original charter is preserved at its historical URL and the list's story is documented on the heritage page. The editorial line of this site — threat-model-first, anti-hype, technically grounded — is a direct continuation of what that community stood for.

Questions, corrections, broken links? Get in touch.