That happens when an organization suddenly loses access to essential digital services because of decisions made by a foreign government?

In 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague experienced exactly this situation when its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, reportedly lost access to his Microsoft email account following US sanctions.

This highlights a major issue with relying on foreign technology providers for critical infrastructure.

Even organizations operating in Europe can be affected by foreign legislation when their digital infrastructure depends on companies based outside Europe.

At NovaCustom, we believe digital sovereignty starts with having control over your own devices.

That's why we focus on Linux, open-source firmware such as Dasharo coreboot, and options to disable Intel Management Engine.

Open-source software alone won't solve every problem, but it can significantly reduce vendor dependency and give users more control over their systems.

We've written an article exploring the ICC case, the Netherlands' efforts toward digital independence, and why open-source technology matters.

Read it here:
https://novacustom.com/big-techs-kill-switch-how-the-icc-was-denied-access-to-microsoft-services/

Do you think European organizations should prioritize moving away from US-based technology providers, or is the current dependency unavoidable?

Today is International Repair Day! 🔧

At NovaCustom, we strongly believe that owning a device should also mean having the freedom to repair it.

Unfortunately, many modern electronics are becoming increasingly difficult to repair. Sometimes, even a small hardware failure can mean replacing an entire device.

We believe things should be different.

That's why we focus on building repairable laptops with replaceable components and spare parts available for at least 7 years.

We also want to recognize the work of Right to Repair Europe, which continues to advocate for better repairability and longer-lasting electronics.

💻 Repairing instead of replacing isn't just better for the environment. It also gives users more control over the technology they own.

What do you think manufacturers should do to make laptops easier to repair?

Happy International Repair Day!

The memory market has been experiencing significant price increases over the past year, largely due to the growing demand for memory chips driven by AI.

Unfortunately, we're seeing the consequences firsthand at NovaCustom.

For the third time in just one year, we're being forced to increase our prices for RAM and SSD storage.

We know that nobody likes price increases, and neither do we. That's why we want to be transparent about what's happening.

Our new prices will take effect on November 15, 2026. We're announcing this more than a month in advance so customers still have the opportunity to purchase or upgrade their devices at current prices.

If you're interested in learning more about the situation, we've published an article explaining our decision:

https://novacustom.com/memory-prices-are-rising-once-again/

Do NovaCustom laptops use fwupd for their bios and firmware updates? Thanks in advance.

Your location, passwords, family details and medical records. There’s a lot you probably wouldn’t want in the wrong hands.

In our new YouTube video, we explore six reasons why privacy matters and why taking control of your personal data is worth it.

What would you say to someone who thinks privacy doesn’t matter?

There were exactly 199 USB sticks in our vase at the International Cyber Expo, and our winner guessed it spot on!

Congratulations Siddharth Gour on winning a NovaCustom laptop! 🥳

Thank you to everyone who took part and visited our stand. It was a pleasure meeting you!

Important EU decision makers from the European Commission are finally working on frameworks for implementing open source. Not only in society in general, but also in their own organizations to stimulate open source across the entire stack. And that leads to more digital sovereignty, security and freedom for organizations and individuals.

We finally got to meet our friends from SHIFT who shared one of the conference’s most important messages: open source needs more collaboration! 🤝💻

Many thanks to Murena for organising this inspiring event! 🙌

Heads verifies whether your firmware or unencrypted boot partition has changed since your previous boot.

It uses HOTP verification with a physical security device such as the Nitrokey 3A Mini. You can also enable TOTP verification and compare the code displayed by Heads with the code in an authenticator app.

Heads does not block a compromised boot process. It detects unexpected changes and warns you, allowing you to decide whether the device can still be trusted.

We have written a beginner friendly explanation of how it works:

https://novacustom.com/knowledge-base/what-is-heads-firmware/

Would you use this kind of boot verification on your laptop?

We are heading to Olympia London for International Cyber Expo on 29 and 30 September.

We have prepared a beautifully illuminated stand on the first floor, where visitors can take a closer look at our privacy focused laptops, mini PC and smartphones.

We cannot wait to meet our customers and other members of the cybersecurity community. Is anyone else here planning to attend?

https://www.internationalcyberexpo.com/exhibitors/novacustom-bv

"I have nothing to hide” is a common response when discussing privacy. But privacy is not simply about hiding information. It is about protecting your data and maintaining control over who can access and use it.

Uncontrolled data collection can contribute to identity fraud, online addiction, manipulation, polarization, weakened democracy and mass surveillance.

We have explained these risks in the first article of our privacy guide:

https://novacustom.com/knowledge-base/why-privacy-is-important/

Why is privacy important to you?

Good security doesn't necessarily require complicated tools. In many cases, it comes down to building several layers of protection and following some basic habits consistently.

In Step 1 of our Ultimate Security guide, we cover Qubes OS compartmentalization, offline password storage, Tor, VPNs, PGP, email aliases, password managers, 2FA, HTTPS, software updates, Heads firmware and encrypted backups.

The idea is not to rely on one security feature, but to reduce your attack surface at every layer.

You can read the full guide here: https://novacustom.com/knowledge-base/best-practices-for-ultimate-security/

We’ve reached an important milestone: repair guides for all our products are now publicly available.

We believe Right to Repair means more than making hardware that can be opened. You should also have access to the information and spare parts needed to actually repair it.

That’s why we provide step by step repair guides and guarantee spare parts for at least 7 years after a product’s launch.

You can find more information and our repair guides here:

https://novacustom.com/all-repair-guides-for-our-products-are-available-online/

Most modern laptops use S0ix Modern Standby, which is designed for responsiveness but can consume more battery while suspended.

S3 Suspend to RAM powers down more hardware and can therefore be more battery efficient. Although many modern computers no longer support it, our Linux laptops do thanks to Dasharo coreboot firmware.

We explain the differences here:

https://novacustom.com/knowledge-base/whats-the-difference-between-s3-and-s0ix/

Which suspend mode do you use, and what has your experience been with battery drain?

We often talk about firmware, BIOS, UEFI and coreboot, but what does firmware actually do?

In simple terms, firmware is software embedded into hardware that provides the instructions a device needs to function. On a laptop, it plays an essential role before your operating system has even started.

It initialises hardware, manages basic hardware communication and helps provide the interface between your hardware and operating system.

Firmware updates can also be important. They may fix bugs, improve functionality or address security vulnerabilities.

We put together a short Knowledge Base article explaining the basics and giving some examples:

https://novacustom.com/knowledge-base/what-is-firmware/

At NovaCustom, this is particularly relevant because we offer systems with Dasharo coreboot open source firmware.

NovaCustom

Curious to hear how many people here actively keep their laptop firmware updated.

We will be attending International Cyber Expo at Olympia London on 29 and 30 September.

Visit our stand on the first floor and discover our privacy focused laptops. We look forward to meeting you!

https://www.internationalcyberexpo.com/exhibitors/novacustom-bv

A laptop doesn’t suddenly become unusable when a manufacturer stops producing it. We believe its support shouldn’t automatically stop either.

At NovaCustom, we continue to support older models wherever possible, including firmware updates, repairs and replacement parts. We guarantee spare parts availability for at least 7 years after a product’s launch.

If one component fails, replacing that component can make more sense than replacing the entire laptop. Keeping existing hardware useful for longer is an important part of our approach to sustainability.

We’ve written more about this in our latest blog post:

https://novacustom.com/novacustom-also-focuses-on-older-models-that-are-no-longer-in-production/

What has your experience been with getting spare parts or support for older laptops?

Pretty cool milestone for us: NovaCustom is featured in the September 2026 edition of Security Journal UK.

The article focuses on something we’ve been advocating for for a long time: digital sovereignty and independence through open-source technology.

We talk about Linux, open-source firmware and why organizations shouldn’t have to completely depend on closed ecosystems for their security.

For anyone interested, you can read the article here: https://digital.securityjournaluk.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&pubid=6b473d74-1798-48d7-9a3c-332368041ee3&pnum=85

Keeping Qubes OS up to date is important for security, stability, and making sure your system has the latest fixes. In this video, we show you how to perform updates in Qubes OS and keep your system up to date.

Adobe Photoshop is powerful, but it also comes with a subscription, an Adobe account, and an ecosystem increasingly tied to cloud services.

There are excellent open-source alternatives:

🎨 GIMP — great for photo editing, retouching, layers and general image manipulation
🖌️ Krita — built for digital painting, illustration, comics and concept art

Both are free, open source and can run locally without requiring an account or subscription.

We took a closer look at what they can do, their differences, and what to expect when moving existing PSD files.

👉 Read the full article: https://novacustom.com/knowledge-base/a-privacy-friendly-alternative-to-adobe-photoshop-gimp-and-krita/

Data breaches can feel like an abstract threat until you look at the numbers.

Yahoo: 3 billion accounts.
Equifax: 147 million people.
Facebook & Cambridge Analytica: up to 87 million users.
Colonial Pipeline: one compromised password helped disrupt fuel supplies.

No company is too big to be breached. And once your personal data has been collected, it can become a target.

We looked at some of the biggest examples and what we can learn from them:

https://novacustom.com/knowledge-base/examples-of-data-breaches-2/

We start with a completely blank keyboard and use our laser to engrave virtually any ANSI or ISO keyboard layout you want.

In this video, you can see a blank keyboard being transformed into a Dvorak keyboard.

Dvorak, US ANSI, UK ISO, German, French, Romanian or something else? You choose the layout.

Our keyboards are available blank or with custom engraving.

Read more:
https://novacustom.com/new-custom-made-keyboards/

Want to install Qubes OS but not sure where to start?

We’ve created a new step-by-step tutorial showing the Qubes OS installation process, from booting into the installer to getting your system up and running.

🔐 Compartmentalize your digital life.
🐧 Open source.
🛡️ Built with security in mind.

Need to wipe or reformat a USB drive in Linux?

You can easily do it using the Disks application — no terminal commands needed.

We made a quick step-by-step guide covering:

• Formatting the drive
• MBR vs GPT
• Creating a new partition
• Mounting the drive

⚠️ Formatting will erase all existing data, so make sure to back up anything important first.

Full guide: https://novacustom.com/knowledge-base/how-to-format-an-external-usb-drive-in-linux/