Tag: qubesos

Featured Updates

Bitcoin Black Friday (10% discount on BusKill)
BusKill available in-store (The Netherlands NovaCustom)
Disarm BusKill in QubesOS
LUKS Header Shredder (BusKill Self-Destruct Trigger)
BusKill Demos (Windows, MacOS, Linux, TAILS, QubesOS)
2025 Annual Report
BusKill available in-store (Leipzig ProxySto.re)
BusKill goes to DEF CON 32
BusKill Demos (Windows, macOS, Linux)
BusKill v0.7.0 released
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QubesOS Bounty (Contrib Package)

We’re happy to announce that we have funding available to package BusKill in QubesOS as a contrib package.

Bounty Now Available for BusKill contrib package in QubesOS

Thanks to a generous donation from NovaCustom, we’re offering a bounty to anyone (including you!) who packages BusKill as an official contrib package for QubesOS.

About BusKill

BusKill is a laptop kill-cord. It’s a USB cable with a magnetic breakaway that you attach to your body and connect to your computer.


If the connection between you to your computer is severed, then your device will lock, shutdown, or shred its encryption keys — thus keeping your encrypted data safe from thieves that steal your device.

About NovaCustom

In Mar 2015, Wessel klein Snakenborg (founder of NovaCustom) started selling highly-customizable Linux laptops from Europe.

In Aug 2021, NovaCustom released their first laptop (NV40) with coreboot pre-installed with Dasharo.

Since 2023, NovaCustom has been a leader in hardware security:

And now, in Apr 2026, NovaCustom is further working to increase the accessibility of BusKill to QubesOS users, by sponsoring the submission of an official QubesOS contrib package.

Funding Available

If you’d like to claim this bounty for yourself, please

  1. Read the details of the bounty, and then
  2. Submit a proposal by commenting on this GitHub issue

Moreover, if you’re a QubesOS user and you’d like to donate additional funds in support of this bounty, you can do so here.

To be notified about future updates, you can signup for our newsletter.


BusKill available in-store (The Netherlands NovaCustom)

🇳🇱 Nederlandse versie van dit artikel
🇫🇷 Version française de cet article
🇩🇪 Deutsche Version dieses Artikels

We’re happy to announce that BusKill cables can now be purchased in-person in Haaksbergen, Netherlands.

[BusKill] Our Dead Man Switch Magnetic USB Breakaway cables are Now Available in-person in The Netherlands at NovaCustom

The BusKill project has partnered with NovaCustom to make BusKill laptop kill cords available from another brick-and-mortar location in Europe. You can now go to the following location and purchase a BusKill cable with cash or cryptocurrency.

NovaCustom B.V.
Harmoleweg 4
7482 PL Haaksbergen
Netherlands
(only by appointment)

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Disarm BusKill in QubesOS

This post will describe how to setup keyboard shortcuts in QubesOS so that you can temporarily disarm (pause) the BusKill laptop kill cord.

This allows the user to, for example, go to the bathroom without causing their computer to shutdown or self-destruct.

This is a guide that builds on part one: A Laptop Kill Cord for QubesOS (1/2). Before reading this, you should already be familiar with how to setup udev rules for BusKill on QubesOS.

  1. A Laptop Kill Cord for QubesOS (1/2)
  2. Disarm BusKill in QubesOS (2/2)

ⓘ Note: This post is adapted from its original article on Tom Hocker’s blog.

What is BusKill?

What if someone literally steals your laptop while you’re working with classified information inside a Whonix DispVM? They’d also be able to recover data from previous DispVMs–as Disposable VM’s rootfs virtual files are not securely shredded after your DispVM is destroyed.

QubesOS Logo
QubesOS: A reasonably secure OS

Are you a security researcher, journalist, or intelligence operative that works in QubesOS–exploiting Qubes’ brilliant security-through-compartimentalization to keep your data safe? Do you make use of Whonix Disposable VMs for your work? Great! This post is for you.

I’m sure your QubesOS laptop has Full Disk Encryption and you’re using a strong passphrase. But what if someone literally steals your laptop while you’re working with classified information inside a Whonix DispVM? Not only will they get access to all of your AppVM’s private data and the currently-running Whonix DispVM’s data, but there’s a high chance they’d be able to recover data from previous DispVMs–as Disposable VM’s rootfs virtual files (volatile.img) are not securely shredded after your DispVM is destroyed by Qubes!

Let’s say you’re a journalist, activist, whistleblower, or a human rights worker in an oppressive regime. Or an intelligence operative behind enemy lines doing research or preparing a top-secret document behind a locked door. What do you do to protect your data, sources, or assets when the secret police suddenly batter down your door? How quickly can you actually act to shutdown your laptop and shred your RAM and/or FDE encryption keys?


BusKill utilizes a magnetic trip-wire that tethers your body to your laptop. If you suddenly jump to your feet or fall off your chair (in response to the battering ram crashing through your door) or your laptop is ripped off your table by a group of armed thugs, the data bus’ magnetic connection will be severed. This event causes a configurable trigger to execute.

The BusKill trigger can be anything from:

  1. locking your screen or
  2. shutting down the computer or
  3. initiating a self-destruct sequence

While our last post described how to setup such a system in QubesOS with BusKill, this post will describe how to add keyboard shortcuts to arm & disarm the dead man switch (eg so you can go to the bathroom).

Continue reading

BusKill Demos (Windows, MacOS, Linux, TAILS, QubesOS)

Video Demo

Watch the below video to see a demonstration of BusKill running on all of the below-listed systems.

Can’t see video above? Watch it on PeerTube or on YouTube at youtu.be/g6eT8JSIgjw

Transparency is important. As we launch our crowdfunding campaign (making the BusKill cable available for purchase for the first time), we wanted to provide a clear video demo showing the cable in-use in all tested platforms:

Windows

BusKill was tested to work in Windows 10.


Visit docs.buskill.in for instructions on how you can build your own BusKill cable and download the BusKill app for Windows.

Or you can buy a BusKill kit with the BusKill Windows app pre-installed on the the included USB drive.

MacOS

BusKill was tested to work in MacOS 10.15 (Catalina).


Visit docs.buskill.in for instructions on how you can build your own BusKill cable and download the MacOS .dmg release.

Or you can buy a BusKill kit with the BusKill MacOS app pre-installed on the the included USB drive.

Linux

BusKill was tested to work in Ubuntu Linux.


Visit docs.buskill.in for instructions on how you can build your own BusKill cable and download the Linux .AppImage release.

Or you can buy a BusKill kit with the BusKill Linux app pre-installed on the the included USB drive.

TAILS

BusKill was tested to work with TAILS (The Amnesic Incognito Live System).


While you could use the BusKill Linux .AppImage release with a second USB drive while using TAILS, the recommended solution for security-critical users is to just use the BusKill cable in-line with the TAILS live USB drive. This takes advantage of

  1. The BusKill cable’s magnetic breakaway along with
  2. The TAILS built-in emergency shutdown

Visit docs.buskill.in for instructions on how you can build your own BusKill cable to use with TAILS.

Or you can buy a BusKill cable to support the BusKill project.

QubesOS

BusKill was also tested to work with QubesOS.


Due to the design of QubesOS (dom0, sys-usb, etc), the BusKill GUI app does not support QubesOS. Instead, QubesOS support is implemented using the qubes-rpc and a set of scripts stored in sys-usb and dom0.

For more information on how to use BusKill in QubesOS, see our BusKill guide for QubesOS.

Visit docs.buskill.in for instructions on how you can build your own BusKill cable to use with QubesOS.

Or you can buy a BusKill cable to support the BusKill project.


Quicker Emergency Shutdown for TAILS

Are you a security researcher, journalist, or intelligence operative that works in TAILS–exploiting TAILS’ brilliant incognito & amnesic design that forces all of your network traffic through the Tor anonymity network? Great! This post is for you.

TAILS Logo
TAILS: The most secure OS available

TAILS is amnesic; it’s designed to leave no trace of the fact that it was used on your laptop. But what if someone literally steals your laptop while you’re working with classified information in TAILS? Not only will they get access to all of the tabs open in your Tor Browser (gaining access to your accounts for any sites you’re currently logged into, gaining the ability to impersonate and send messages as you, etc), but they’d also be able to access the contents of your decrypted persistent drive!

Let’s say you’re a journalist, activist, whistleblower or a human rights worker in an oppressive regime. Or an intelligence operative behind enemy lines doing research or preparing a top-secret document behind a locked door. What do you do to protect your data, sources, or assets when the secret police suddenly batter down your door? How quickly can you actually act to shutdown your laptop and shred your RAM and/or persistent volume?

What if you had a magnetic trip-wire tied from your body to your laptop such that it would trigger the TAILS emergency shutdown if the cable got disconnected by you jumping to your feet or falling off your chair at the sudden bang of your front door being reduced to splinters?


Using a BusKill cable with your TAILS drive can help shave off those precious seconds needed to trigger an emergency shutdown that will help keep you, your data, and your contacts safe.

Continue reading

A Laptop Kill Cord for QubesOS

This post will describe how to use BusKill as a dead man switch to trigger your laptop to self-destruct if it’s physically separated from you. This guide is specific to QubesOS users.

What if someone literally steals your laptop while you’re working with classified information inside a Whonix DispVM? They’d also be able to recover data from previous DispVMs–as Disposable VM’s rootfs virtual files are not securely shredded after your DispVM is destroyed.

QubesOS Logo
QubesOS: A reasonably secure OS

This is part one of a two-part series. For part two, see Disarm BusKill in QubesOS (2/2)

  1. A Laptop Kill Cord for QubesOS (1/2)
  2. Disarm BusKill in QubesOS (2/2)

Are you a security researcher, journalist, or intelligence operative that works in QubesOS–exploiting Qubes’ brilliant security-through-compartimentalization to keep your data safe? Do you make use of Whonix Disposable VMs for your work? Great! This post is for you.

I’m sure your QubesOS laptop has Full Disk Encryption and you’re using a strong passphrase. But what if someone literally steals your laptop while you’re working with classified information inside a Whonix DispVM? Not only will they get access to all of your AppVM’s private data and the currently-running Whonix DispVM’s data, but there’s a high chance they’d be able to recover data from previous DispVMs–as Disposable VM’s rootfs virtual files (volatile.img) are not securely shredded after your DispVM is destroyed by Qubes!

Let’s say you’re a journalist, activist, whistleblower, or a human rights worker in an oppressive regime. Or an intelligence operative behind enemy lines doing research or preparing a top-secret document behind a locked door. What do you do to protect your data, sources, or assets when the secret police suddenly batter down your door? How quickly can you actually act to shutdown your laptop and shred your RAM and/or FDE encryption keys?


BusKill utilizes a magnetic trip-wire that tethers your body to your laptop. If you suddenly jump to your feet or fall off your chair (in response to the battering ram crashing through your door) or your laptop is ripped off your table by a group of armed thugs, the data bus’ magnetic connection will be severed. This event causes a configurable trigger to execute.

The BusKill trigger can be anything from:

  1. locking your screen or
  2. shutting down the computer or
  3. initiating a self-destruct sequence

This post will describe how to setup such a system in QubesOS with BusKill

Can’t see video above? Watch it on PeerTube or on YouTube at youtu.be/IQAO8u_JWUQ

Continue reading

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