I have a Windows XP system that I frequent that the owner allows me to install programs on, but not modify the OS. The users of this system are not security conscious, and sometimes I must use this system to log onto my bank or government/military sites. Attempting to please my paranoia, I would like to get to a secure environment. I could use a bootable USB stick, but that would require me to dedicate one (hey, I'm poor) large enough to fit x11/xorg, java/openjdk7, security/opensc, and www/firefox (browser with PKCS #11 support). I would prefer an alternative method.
I have installed VirtualBox on this system and FreeBSD as a guest, thinking this would circumvent most malware that may be on the system. For key loggers, I simply use the on screen keyboard of the GUEST. The performance isn't great, but it's manageable.
As a novice to FreeBSD, I'm assuming that using a remote frame buffer over SSH would also do the trick, but from what little experience I have with RFB, the network latency wouldn't be much more advantageous over a performance degradation using virtualization. Or would this be a better solution security-wise?
Does using FreeBSD as a guest protect against malware on the host? Are there other considerations I should take into account? Are there other solutions I haven't considered (and I'm sure there's a butt-load of them)? Any improvements or suggestions are welcome.
I have installed VirtualBox on this system and FreeBSD as a guest, thinking this would circumvent most malware that may be on the system. For key loggers, I simply use the on screen keyboard of the GUEST. The performance isn't great, but it's manageable.
As a novice to FreeBSD, I'm assuming that using a remote frame buffer over SSH would also do the trick, but from what little experience I have with RFB, the network latency wouldn't be much more advantageous over a performance degradation using virtualization. Or would this be a better solution security-wise?
Does using FreeBSD as a guest protect against malware on the host? Are there other considerations I should take into account? Are there other solutions I haven't considered (and I'm sure there's a butt-load of them)? Any improvements or suggestions are welcome.