Purism partners with Qubes, with the combined goal of offering Purism’s freedom-focused hardware bundled together with Qubes’ security-focused operating system

DECEMBER 8, 2015—SAN FRANCISCO, CA—In the midst of growing concerns about identity theft, Internet privacy, cybersecurity and digital rights, Purism, maker of the privacy, security, and freedom-focused Librem laptops has announced a partnership with the security-focused operating system Qubes OS, to ensure users are as protected from modern-day security threats as possible. This partnership will continue to evolve to push security for users in a positive direction within the hardware manufacturing process.

Qubes OS provides security through “compartmentalization.” If a user’s browser is compromised while visiting a website, for example, the attacker does not gain access to other information or programs on the system, such as sensitive documents, passwords, photos or personal data.

Conventional security approaches such as antivirus and malware detection programs are no longer enough to keep out sophisticated attackers. Qubes OS isolates the operating system’s components allowing for a more optimal security model than Microsoft Windows or Apple OSX can provide.

In addition, Qubes comes with Whonix-powered Tor integration, enabling the user to easily route network traffic through the Tor anonymity network. Given these features, combining Qubes with Purism Librem laptops is a natural fit–and users will benefit by being able to order Qubes OS preinstalled on the Librem 13.

“We are pleased to partner with the Purism team both in offering a certified Qubes OS laptop today, and in the future improving the functionality and security of Purism laptops to ensure that users can have the best of freedom, security and privacy in one convenient package,” said Joanna Rutkowska, well-known security researcher and founder of the Qubes OS project.

“We are ecstatic about the partnership between Purism and Qubes so we can bring together our goals of privacy, security and freedom in hardware with the best approach in software security. This union represents the ideal approach to protecting users by default, without sacrificing convenience or usability,” said Todd Weaver, CEO of Purism. “Qubes OS is a natural fit with the Purism Librem laptops in both functionality and ideology.”

The Librem: Privacy-Respecting Hardware

Purism’s goal with the Librem laptop is to offer a high-end computer with a simple, out-of-the-box, privacy-enhancing experience. The Librem laptop computer features privacy “kill switches” to physically shut off the camera, microphone and data connection, deterring data thieves, spies, cyberstalkers and hackers.

Librem 13

The new Librem 13 is now shipping. It can be ordered at https://puri.sm/product/librem-13/, for a base price of $1649 US, including Qubes OS.

Orders are shipped on a first-come, first-served basis in the order they were received. There is an additional shipping charge of $80 for orders outside the USA.

CrowdSupply will accept all forms of international currency including Bitcoin.

About Qubes OS

Qubes OS is a security-oriented free and open source operating system for personal computers. Recognizing there can be no perfect, bug-free computing environment, Qubes aims instead to secure typical workflows through controlled interaction and minimize the attack surface for adversaries through compartmentalization.

Its architecture is built to enable a user to define different security environments or “domains” on their computer based on their threat model and manage their interaction with each other. This allows the user to control the level of access an application has to other information, protecting confidential work both from compromise and from exfiltration.

It can run Debian, Fedora, Whonix, and even Windows-based applications within this environment. For more information, visit: https://www.qubes-os.org

About Purism

Purism’s goal is to manufacture secure, freedom, and privacy-respecting computers. Leading the way in protecting your digital life by making security and privacy simpler and easier-to-use by default. Purism is devoted to providing the highest quality hardware available, with the goal that the user’s data is kept private and is secure from hacking, malware, spyware, identity theft and other threats that cannot be prevented with antivirus or malware detection alone. Purism is based in San Francisco, California, and its products are assembled in the United States from components manufactured and sourced internationally. Privately held and privately funded, Purism has raised nearly $842,000 to date solely with crowd funding, making the Librem laptops one of the top three most successful crowd funded PC hardware projects in history, according to ZDNet, and the #1 crowd funded hardware project on Crowd Supply.

Media Contact

See also the Purism press room for additional tools and announcements.

Coderella / Purism +1 415-689-4029 pr@puri.sm