All articles on this site are by Harry Skevington unless otherwise noted with another byline

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StealthSurfer

APRIL 1, 2008

StealthSurfer
Stealth for those who need it
Those who need a StealthSurfer must own a trench coat and slink from one shadow to the next. I was very curious about the StealthSurfer as I knew little about it other than the rather costly retail pricing of $179.00. After looking at it I think it does the job it is made for. That is to hide your identity from others as well as allow you to carry your computing identity with you. What do you get and is it worth the price? Let’s take a look.

Pluses:
IP stealth
E-mail encryption
Access to your work and files on the road

Minuses:
Only works with Windows XP and not all versions.
Cost versus needs. Do you need it?
Administrator log-in required to setup, use, and even install some items.
It was difficult to exit MojoPak and shutdown the StealthSurfer drive at times. I was required to run Checkdisk on the StealthSurfer drive as did not shutdown properly on the previous occasion.

 After plugging the StealthSurfer into a USB 2 port on the Lenovo ThinkPad a nifty light started flashing on the end of the drive. At that point I clicked on “Run MojoPak” in the “What do you want Windows to do?” box. This took me to the MojoPac Setup. Note: You will need to be online to do most of the setup. MojoPac is the platform that underlies the StealthSurfer operation. Clicking Device Setup brought me to a form that asked me to provide a Device User Name, a password, and a password hint. The instructions were easy to follow. Writing down this info somewhere is vital to your ability to use the StealthSurfer since once forgotten it cannot be recovered. It goes without saying that writing these notes on the bottom of your keyboard or on a sticky note on your monitor is a no no if you are keeping really secret stuff on the StealthSurfer.

There are a number of places where concentration is needed to enter long strings of letters and numbers. Not the best side of my brain. My next challenge was the MojoPak.com User Registration Form. I had to enter a username and password as well as a long product key for the paid version. Thankfully I had written it all down on the instruction sheets. <OOPS>

Was that the end of it? Not by a long shot. My next task was to setup a Hushmail account. This required creation of an email address, a password, and a PassPhrase. The Hushmail part of all this gives you the ability to encrypt your messages if you want to and sometimes even if you don’t. I forgot that I needed to look at the encryption option to uncheck it for messages that I did not want to encrypt. The PassPhrase must be given to the person/s receiving these messages. They also need to know how to use it. If they do not use it they get gibberish. They may hate you for life.

Like this: wpwEAQECAAYFAkfueuwACgkQMu2j0wS0dO8dygP+PJPq3i0I6AMdkZc0aLcU2 meKQMfv

Let me say at this point StealthSurfer runs slower than the computer you are connecting it to. It uses FireFox as a Browser. That has nothing to do with the slow speed. I assume that is due to the drive running through the notebook/desktop environment before getting on the web. I sent several messages to my other email addresses since I did not wish to alert my friends or homeland security to the fact that I was hiding secret messages in messages. I was able to decrypt and read them by using my PassPhrase. Attaching files and photos worked fine. Kind of nifty! I just have to find someone else who wants to play 007 with me.

These programs are included in the StealthSurfer package according to the StealthSurfer Website:
MojoPac Deluxe - Portable computing environment - take your programs and files with you to another computer.

Tor - Complete Network Security - Hide your IP address from hackers with IP masking for an anonymous proxy server.

Hushmail Premium - Web Based Email Solution - High Internet security encryption to keep your emails private and secure. No cost for up to 4 years of Hushmail Premium.

RoboForm PRO - User ID/Password Management Application - One-click form fill never lose your private internet passwords again.

Firefox - High-speed Secure Web Browser - The popular free web browser with enhanced security features that makes private surfing easy.

Thunderbird - Portable E-mail Access - Secure email access from any computer with this USB software package.

The total cost for the 2 gig version as tested here is $179.00 and goes up to $339.00 for the 16Gig version. The StealthSurfer website provides a cost for each program included. Please note that many of these can be found for free on the internet but with somewhat limited abilities as compared to the paid versions quoted below.

Hushmail Premium + desktop access (2 years, MSRP $99.98), Roboform PRO (MSRP $29.95), Mojopac Deluxe (MSRP $49.99), ultra fast dual-channel Rally 2 USB drive - 2GB (MSRP $28.00)

I guess I live a quiet life and like most other computer users rely on the kindness of strangers. I use various antivirus, anti-spam, and anti most every thing so feel I am reasonably safe. Going through all of this seems a little overboard to me. I may be sorry but I will continue to load up a portable 120 gig drive and hug it to my chest when traveling. I am sure there are those out there who need and even require this kind of StealthSurfer hiding. Maybe I will get a wakeup call someday. I hope not.