LPS-Public

LPS (Lightweight Portable Security) is an open source distribution of Linux that provides users with a thin client designed to run directly from a portable device and to not expose your private data and credentials to anyone.

It has been created by the US Air Force Research Laboratory, as part of their Software Protection Initiative project, and can be used for PIV (Personal Identity Verification) or CAC (Common Access Card) restricted government websites.

Distributed as Live CDs in multiple editions

The operating system is distributed as three Live CDs, LPS Public, LPS Public Deluxe, and LPS Remote Access. They can be easily deployed to USB flash drives using the UNetbootin application, or written to blank CDs using any CD/DVD burning software.

The first two are available to the general public, but the third one has been specifically designed to be used by the United States Department of Defense (DoD), as well as various other US federal government agencies.

While LPS Public is the smaller one and includes a minimal set of packages, LPS Public Deluxe comes with a bigger collection of applications and utilities. They are both engineered to allow productive use of the Internet.

Boot options

When booting the Live CDs, users will be able to press the CTRL+C key combination in order to access various startup options, such as an alternate boot mode, a basic video mode, as well as the ability to boot an existing operating system from the first disk drive.

Default applications

Default applications include the OpenOffice office suite, Mozilla Firefox web browser, a PDF viewer, as well as various basic utilities. An encryption utility for decrypting and encrypting personal files is also installed by default. In addition, it can automatically detect smart cards, and supports remote desktop connectivity.

Bottom line

Overall, LPS (Lightweight Portable Security) is a very secure Linux-based operating system, in the way that it will never write or install any data on your computer’s disk drive, and it’ll never expose your private files.

What is new in this release:

• Updated DoD Root Certificates to include new SHA-256 Certificate Chain
• Updated Firefox to 38.6.0 ESR
• Updated Adobe Flash Player to 11.2.202.559
• Updated Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.9.0.2
• Updated Firefox Extension: HTTPS Everywhere 5.1.2
• Updated Java to 8 update 71
• Updated Encryption Wizard to 3.4.9
• Updated OpenSSH to 7.1p2
• Updated OpenSSL to 1.0.2f
• Updated GnuTLS to 3.3.20
• Updated NSPR to 4.11 and NSS to 3.21
• Updated PCSC-Lite to 1.8.15 with CCID 1.4.21
• Updated Thunderbird to 38.5.1 (Deluxe only)
• Updated LibreOffice to 4.4.7 (Deluxe only)
• Updated Citrix Receiver to 13.3
• Added Off the Record support to Pidgin

What is new in version 1.5.5:

• Updated Firefox to 24.8.1 ESR
• Updated Adobe Flash Player to 11.2.202.411
• Updated Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.6.9.1
• Updated Firefox Extension: HTTPS Everywhere 4.0.2
• Updated Java to 1.7u71
• Updated OpenSSH to 6.7p1
• Updated OpenSSL to 1.0.0o/0.9.8zc
• Updated NSPR to 4.10.7 and NSS to 3.17
• Updated PCSC-Lite to 1.8.12 with CCID 1.4.18
• Updated Thunderbird to 24.8.1 (Deluxe only)
• Updated BASH to 4.2.48
• Added PuTTY under Connectivity
• Fixes to Broadcom wireless drivers
• Linux Kernel version 3.10.58

What is new in version 1.5.4:

• Updated Firefox to 24.7.0 ESR
• Updated Adobe Flash Player to 11.2.202.400
• Updated Java to 1.7u67
• Updated OpenSSL to 1.0.0n/0.9.8zb
• Updated Encryption Wizard to 3.4.4
• Updated Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.6.8.36
• Updated Firefox Extension: HTTPS Everywhere 3.5.3
• Updated Thunderbird to 24.7.0 (Deluxe only)
• Added internal CD/DVD drive support
• Added CD Burning Support (Utilites/CD Burning)

What is new in version 1.5.3:

• Updated Firefox to 24.6.0 ESR
• Updated Adobe Flash Player to 11.2.202.378
• Updated Java to 1.7u60
• Updated OpenSSL to 1.0.0m/0.9.8za
• Updated NSPR to 4.10.6 and NSS to 3.16.1
• Updated PCSC-Lite to 1.8.11 with CCID 1.4.17
• Updated Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.6.8.28
• Updated Thunderbird to 24.6.0 (Deluxe only)

What is new in version 1.5.1:

• Fixed DNSCrypt feature
• Fixed Printing
• Added Power Management controls
• Added support for Express Card CCID smartcard readers
• Updated Encryption Wizard to 3.4.1
• Updated Firefox to 24.4.0 ESR
• Updated Adobe Flash Player to 11.2.202.350
• Updated OpenSSH to 6.6p1
• Updated Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.6.8.19
• Updated Thunderbird to 24.4.0 (Deluxe only)
• Linux Kernel version 3.10.35

What is new in version 1.5.0:

• Changed desktop experience to use XFCE
• Updated numerous user experience utilities
• Applied Browser Bookmark updates
• Updated FreeRDP to 1.1
• Updated VMware View Client to 2.2
• Updated Encryption Wizard to 3.4.0
• Updated Firefox to 24.3.0 ESR
• Updated Adobe Flash Player to 11.2.202.346
• Updated Java to 1.7u51
• Updated OpenSSL to 1.0.0l/0.9.8y
• Updated NSPR to 4.10.3 and NSS to 3.15.4
• Updated OpenSSH to 6.5p1
• Updated Firefox Extension: HTTPS Everywhere 3.4.5
• Updated Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.6.8.14
• Updated Adobe Reader to 9.5.5 (Deluxe only)
• Updated Thunderbird to 24.3.0 (Deluxe only)
• Updated DAVMail to 4.3.4 (Deluxe only)
• Updated LibreOffice to 4.1.5 (Deluxe only)
• Updated Pidgin to 2.10.9 (Deluxe only)
• Changed DHCP client to dhclient for IPv6 DHCP support with Network Manager
• Added Brother HL-2040 and HL-2141 printer driver
• Added platform drivers for some netbooks
• Added support for NVIDIA Optimus graphics multiplexing
• Fixes to Broadcom and Realtek wireless drivers

What is new in version 1.4.1:

• Updated Adobe Flash Player to 11.2.202.280
• Updated Java to 1.7u21
• Updated OpenSSL to 1.0.0k/0.9.8y
• Updated Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.6.6
• Updated OpenSSH to 6.2p1
• Fixed Broadcom and Realtek wireless drivers
• Fixed DNSCrypt feature
• Added Brother HL-2140 printer driver

What is new in version 1.3.6:

• Updated Firefox to 10.0.7 ESR
• Updated Firefox Extension: HTTPS Everywhere 2.2.2
• Updated Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.5.4
• Updated Thunderbird to 10.0.7 ESR (Deluxe only)
• Updated Pidgin to 2.10.6 (Deluxe only)
• Flash not updated to 11.2.202.238 (it crashes with youtube)
• Updated Java to 1.6u35
• Updated OpenSSH to 6.1p1
• Removed Firefox extension blocklisting, which generated spurious warnings
• Minor bookmark updates

What is new in version 1.3.5:

• Updated Firefox to 10.0.5 ESR
• Updated Firefox Extension: HTTPS Everywhere 2.0.5
• Updated Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.4.6
• Updated Thunderbird to 10.0.5 ESR (Deluxe only)
• Updated Flash to 11.2.202.236, including fixing the library support issue noted in release 1.3.4.
• Updated Encryption Wizard application to 3.3.4
• Updated OpenSSL to 0.9.8x
• Minor bookmark updates, including adding check for updates to major bundled software components
• Fixed problem with iPhone tethering introduced with iOS 5.1 update
• Updated Java to 1.6u33

What is new in version 1.3.4:

• Updated Firefox to 10.0.4 ESR
• Added Firefox Extension: HTTPS Everywhere 2.0.3
• Added Firefox Extension: NoScript 2.3.9
• Updated Thunderbird to 10.0.4 ESR (Deluxe only)
• Downgraded Flash to 11.1.102.63, due to incompatibilities in new Adobe libraries; Flash will be updated with our next kernel update release (LPS 1.4). If running an old version of Flash poses a problem for you, use the NoScript add-on within Firefox to disable it.
• Updated Encryption Wizard application to 3.3.3
• Updated OpenSSL to 0.9.8w
• Updated OpenSSH to 6.0p1
• Updated Java to 1.6u32
• Updated the Citrix client to 12.1.0.203066
• Fixed SameTime support in Pidgin; it was left out of 1.3.3 by accident
• Added MultiPing 0.1.2 under the Connectivity menu
• Toggled Firefox security setting security.ssl.allow_unrestricted_renego_everywhere_temporarily_available_pref