The Ghost Operator's Signal
We used to think of privacy as secrecy.
Something for spies, activists, or people with something to hide.
That mindset doesn’t fit the world we live in anymore.
Today, privacy is choice – the ability to decide what others see about you, when, and how.
Continue reading “Privacy Isn’t Hiding – It’s Choosing”
There’s power in owning your words.
At Tom’s IT Cafe, we built a fully self-hosted Matrix Synapse server – secured, encrypted, and tuned for reliability.
Continue reading “Private Matrix Synapse Server for SMEs: Silence in Motion”
Privacy is not a switch with two options.
You can -and should- choose your level of privacy.
Don’t delete your social media account just for privacy.
Don’t burn your phone just for safety.
Basic habits will keep you safe.
Continue reading “Privacy Focused Life – You Don’t Have To Disappear”
Operational Security (OPSEC) isn’t a military secret – it’s a survival tool.
People think it’s for soldiers, spies, or hackers.
But it’s for civilians. For you.
Every day, you leave trails: where you go, who you talk to, what you buy.
Someone is watching. Someone is connecting the dots.
OPSEC is the discipline of controlling your own story before someone else writes it for you.
It’s not for the paranoid. It’s not for the doomsday-prepper.
It’s a free ticket to exit the Tracing Trap.
You live in surveillance.
You are mapped every day.
Convenience is the bait. Tracing is the cage.
Continue reading “Exit The Tracing Trap – Quit Surveillance”
The world is a cage.
It’s built on surveillance.
They sell you comfort.
You buy prying eyes.
Your home is a spy.
Your pocket is a beacon.
They know you.
They map you.
Your mind is theirs.
You are tagged from the beginning.
Papers follow you. Trails multiply.
By DeadSwitch | The Cyber Ghost
“Noise is the death of persistence.”
Persistence is survival.
But survival isn’t enough.
Persistence must be invisible.
Undetected. Undisturbed. Undying.
Loud persistence is a countdown.
Quiet persistence is a curse they never find.
~/.config/autostart/, %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\schtasks /create or cron with delay offsetsHKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunThese are hunted.
These are scanned.
These are forensic low-hanging fruit.
DeadSwitch never stays in plain sight.
You persist inside trust.
You wear the system’s face.
When detection lives in software, you hide beneath the silicon.
1 – Never trigger immediately
2 – Randomize payload delivery
3 – Sleep longer than blue teams expect
4 – Use uncommon paths, uncommon times, and legitimate signatures
5 – Clean yourself. Reinstall yourself. Leave false trails.
6 – Persistence only matters if they never know you’re there.
You don’t want uptime.
You want undetected presence.
Final Whisper
“Real persistence is not staying alive.
It’s never proving you were there.”
– DeadSwitch
“Fear the silence. Fear the switch.”
The Illusion of Anonymity Without OPSEC
By DeadSwitch | The Cyber Ghost
“You tunneled your traffic. But you didn’t tunnel yourself.”
A VPN encrypts your traffic.
It does not encrypt your behavior.
It does not mask your fingerprint.
It does not make you anonymous.
By DeadSwitch | The Cyber Ghost
“Your thoughts should never be anyone’s business. Encrypt the silence.”
In a world obsessed with sharing, I write to forget – not to be remembered by others. My journal isn’t a scrapbook for dopamine or a backup for someone else’s algorithm. It’s a log of operations, and operations require secrecy.
So I encrypt mine. With Emacs. In plain text.
This is how DeadSwitch keeps a daily log that even the digital gods can’t peek into.
Why Encrypt a Journal?
Because the mind is sacred.
Because ideas are weapons.
Because tomorrow’s threat often begins with yesterday’s leak.
Encrypted journaling isn’t about fear. It’s about respect – for your thoughts, your process, your silence.
The Setup – Emacs, Org-mode, and GPG
Here’s the toolbox:
org-cryptEmacs Configuration
Drop this into your config:
(require 'org-crypt)
(setq org-tags-exclude-from-inheritance '("crypt"))
(setq org-crypt-key nil) ;; uses your default GPG key
(org-crypt-use-before-save-magic)
This tells Emacs to automatically encrypt any headline tagged with :crypt: before saving.
Decryption happens only when you open the file – and stays in RAM.
A Sample Entry
* May 2025 :crypt:
** [2025-05-04 Sun]
- 5k run - 22:18 [2025-05-04 Sun 09:06]
- Cold shower - difficulty: easy [2025-05-04 Sun 09:28]
- New idea: Emacs Lisp for internal ops [2025-05-04 Sun 14:24]
Your operations, encrypted. Your timestamps, precise. Your log, protected.
Timestamps and Logging Shortcuts
C-c . – insert dateC-u C-c . – insert date and timeC-c ! – inactive timestampC-u C-c ! – inactive date and timeYou want traceability without noise. Emacs delivers.
Why Not Notion, Joplin, Obsidian, or Others?
Because I don’t trust clouds.
Because their encryption isn’t mine.
Because their sync means exposure.
Because when I type, I want code – not JavaScript trying to sell me my own thoughts.
Final Note
“Encryption is not paranoia. It is self-respect.”
Your mind is a fortress. Don’t leave the gate open.
Security Tools That Cost Nothing but Save Everything
Some build walls.
We build fire.
“If your words pass through the wrong gate, they’re no longer yours.”
– DeadSwitch
Email is the first window into your system.
It’s the trailhead of phishing, leaks, impersonation, and silent watchers.
Yet most small businesses still shout through the loudest gates :: Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo.
The servers scan. The ads personalize.
The watchers smile.
You need a quieter way.
Resist in the Light: How to Migrate from Proprietary to FOSS Tools, Safely
They sell you convenience.
They extract your freedom.
This ends now.
By DeadSwitch
You think you have 2FA?
You think you’re safe because your logins need a second factor?
Then you go and store your TOTP codes in the same password manager that holds your passwords.
You’ve built a fortress. Then you handed the keys and the spare keys to the same person.
Continue reading “Your TOTP is Not a Second Factor :: If You Store It Wrong”
DeadSwitch | The Cyber Ghost
“In silence, we rise. In the switch, we fade.”
The art of Operational Security (OpSec) isn’t about hiding – it’s about disappearing. The less you leave behind, the harder it is to find you. It’s a craft, not just a choice. Here are tools that will sharpen your OpSec game, make your operations untraceable, and keep you out of sight.
Continue reading “OpSec Mastery: Tools for the Silent Revolution”
“When the noise gets loud, trust the tools that speak only in code.”
– DeadSwitch
But the shadows say otherwise.
You handle invoices, passwords, documents, messages, backups.
Every byte is a trail. Every trail can be followed.
Here’s the good news: you don’t need millions.
You need discipline :: and the right tools.
Below, DeadSwitch whispers a few of his favorite instruments.
Each one open. Each one tested. Each one not owned by the ones who sell your data.
Tom's IT Cafe 