reverted to a known safe state; locally or remotely, applying | Qubes OS📢

reverted to a known safe state; locally or remotely, applying changes only.
This talk will be a deep dive into the possibilities of wyng-backups for
deploying and maintaining up to date, revertible states of Qubes OS base
systems.

“SRTM and Secure Boot for VMs” by Piotr Król

This talk is the continuation of the Qubes OS mini-summit presentation “SRTM
for Qubes OS VMs”, where the theoretical background of the Static Root of Trust
was presented and discussed. In this presentation, we will practically approach
SRTM and Secure Boot for VMs. We will also explore potential use cases for
self-decrypting storage and signed kernels using safeboot. Finally, we will
discuss how to introduce this and other security mechanisms in Qubes OS.

“Usability Within A Reasonably Secure, Multi-Environment System” by Nina Alter

Nina Alter first became aware of exciting possibilities of Qubes OS, when asked
to lead UX research and design for the SecureDrop Workstation project.
SecureDrop’s Workstation is built atop Qubes OS, yet exists for high-risk,
non-technical journalist users. Nina will share her early discovery work;
the joys, the pain-points, and the many opportunities she has since uncovered
to extend Qubes OS’ reach to some of our world’s most vulnerable digital
citizens.

“Qubes OS Native App Menu: UX Design and Implementation” by Marta Marczykowska-Górecka and Nina Alter

A brief overview of the new Application Menu that’s being introduced in (at
latest) Qubes 4.2, the process of creating it, and design and implementation
challenges. Based on design work by Nina Alter and implementation by Marta
Marczykowska-Górecka.

“A brief history of USB camera support in Qubes OS” by Piotr Król

The use of complex multi-endpoint isochronous USB devices in the presence of
sys-usb was not always possible in Qubes OS. Luckily, the Qubes Video Companion
project was created by Elliot Killick, which enabled users to use USB cameras
on Qubes OS. The project is still in development and testing, but it is very
promising and gives many USB camera users hope. This presentation will tell the
story of using Qubes Video Companion with the Logitech C922.

“How to set up BTC and XMR cold storage in Qubes OS” by Piotr Król

Cold storage, also called offline wallets, provides the highest level of
security for cryptocurrency. The critical characteristic of a computing
environment that can be used as cold storage is the lack of network
connectivity. Good examples of cold storage are spare computer devices or
microcontroller-based devices like a hardware wallet. By leveraging the same
architecture, Qubes OS domains can be used for cold storage. In such a case,
one of the domains is disconnected from the network and runs a cryptocurrency
wallet inside. Other domains may generate transactions files, which are sent to
cold storage VM for signing. Signed transaction files are sent back to the
online environment. All operations are performed using well-specified and
secure Qubes RPCs. This presentation will show how to set up and use BTC and
XMR cold storage with the most popular wallets for those cryptocurrencies. We
will also discuss what other measures can be taken to secure offline wallet
VMs.