The Tails project has announced the release of its privacy-focused Linux distribution, known for providing secure and anonymous internet access, Tails 6.18, as the changes made are only in two directions.
The first one is the introduction of WebTunnel bridges. So, what’s special about WebTunnel? Well, it’s a bridge technology designed specifically to circumvent censorship methods that block traditional Tor connections, such as obfs4 bridges.
Essentially, WebTunnel disguises your internet connection as regular web traffic, enabling you to access the Tor network even in heavily monitored locations. To get started with these new bridges, users can visit the Tor Project’s bridges site.
Beyond the big bridge upgrade, Tails 6.18 ships with Tor Browser 14.5.5 and Thunderbird 128.12, keeping both privacy-focused tools up to date with the latest security patches and features.
For a full list of changes, refer to the changelog or the release announcement.
For those already running Tails from version 6.0 or later, the upgrade to 6.18 is straightforward and automatic, allowing you to keep your Persistent Storage without hassle. If automatic updates aren’t an option, you can always perform a manual upgrade.
Lastly, if you’re new to Tails or want to do a fresh installation without preserving your Persistent Storage, you can follow the installation instructions for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Please note that if you choose a fresh install instead of an upgrade, the Persistent Storage on your old Tails USB stick will be lost.
