Gibberfish, Inc./Gibberfish User Documentation

We hope you enjoy using Gibberfish. We have worked hard make it a secure and easy-to use platform, as have the many independent contributors to the various open source projects that we have integrated into our service. Special thanks goes to the folks at Nextcloud, without whom our platform would not be possible.

DESKTOP AND MOBILE CLIENTS

Gibberfish works with the Nextcloud desktop and mobile clients to allow you to automatically sync files to and from the server. This is disabled by default as a security measure. If you wish to use these clients, talk to your Administrator about changing the file access rules. If you decide to sync files locally, only do so if you have turned on full-disk encryption for your device. This protects your files if your device is lost, stolen or hacked

While the comic above explains the concept, the Diceware method recommends a passphrase length of 5 or more words for optimal security.

Using Tor is the single best way to guard your online privacy. This is why we use Tor to deploy your Gibberfish server. While it specifically refers to The Onion Router project, Tor has come to encompass a variety of free products and services people can use to safeguard their online activities. We recommend that everyone use the Tor browser to help anonymize their online presence.

Please carefully read the documentation and FAQ that Tor provides about browsing on their network. They have important recommendations for maintaining your privacy. Importantly, using the Tor browser does not guarantee that all your online activities are anonymous.  

As your security needs escalate Tor has other free tools to help. When you evaluate your Threat Model, you may wish to investigate Bridge servers and Tails. Bridge servers allow people to access Tor in countries that block it. Tails is a Linux operating system, complete with commonly used programs, all on a USB stick. It allows extremely private computing. 

Discover these and other Tor services at:

Good passphrases are extremely important for safeguarding your data. We (and many security experts) recommend creating passwords using the Diceware method. This is the only method of passphrase generation we consider secure. Its easy to do, and it provides ultra-strong passphrases that can defeat even the most resourceful adversaries.

Image courtesy xkcd.com.

Hello, 

Your Gibberfish server is ready to be deployed. To do so you must first install the Tor Browser (Orfox on mobile) and download the instructions using this link, which will automatically self destruct after the first visit:

The installation should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. If the installation does not start properly, please close your browser and try again in a new session.

Some important reminders:

- Before deploying your server, please read our Quick-start guide. It contains important suggestions for maintaining your privacy and security.

- Do not lose your encryption passphrase. Without it all of your data will become permanently lost when the system is rebooted.

- Do not lose your encryption passphrase. We cannot recover it, ever, for any reason.

- Once the installation is complete, your designated Administrator can begin creating accounts for new users. We do not recommend sending login credentials via unencrypted email. Signal is a good choice.

- Do not hesitate to reach out to use with questions at info@gibberfish.org, but remember that we will only comply with requests originating from you@youremail.com. We strongly suggest using PGP encryption when communicating with Gibberfish. 

- We can only provide limited technical support because we cannot log in to your server. In the coming months we will be rolling out improvements to our Management Portal which will provide better troubleshooting tools.