I'm pretty sure what I want is not terribly difficult, but I don't have enough Linux admin experience to know exactly how to make it. What I need is some general guidelines, and perhaps some references to study.
What I would like to do is make an application that
- boots up from DVD
- runs only one program
- doesn't allow any network connection
- doesn't allow any Internet connection
- looks for a USB flash drive (with encrypted signature of some sort)
- when done, leaves no trace on the host system