TOR Entry and Exit nodes

RainyDay · 20-01-2015 12:13am

So, experiences so far;

Facebook works OK, though a bit sluggish in displaying photos. I get warning messages flagging up that I'm logging in from Berlin. Only problem is the links in alert emails still link to the non-TOR version, so I have to click into the old version if I use the email. FB videos don't work, presumably because they require Flash.

Donedeal doesn't work, for what they say is fraud prevention reasons. Mightytext.net doesn't work. Boards.ie doesn't work.

Politics.ie works, with the cloudfare captcha challenge first. Tumblr works OK. YouTube works OK.

I'm not convinced so far. It looks like I won't be able to use it as my default browser, so I'm not sure I'm motivated to have two browsers running all the time.

obsidianclock · 23-01-2015 5:03pm

RainyDay wrote: »

So, experiences so far;

Facebook works OK, though a bit sluggish in displaying photos. I get warning messages flagging up that I'm logging in from Berlin. Only problem is the links in alert emails still link to the non-TOR version, so I have to click into the old version if I use the email. FB videos don't work, presumably because they require Flash.

Donedeal doesn't work, for what they say is fraud prevention reasons. Mightytext.net doesn't work. Boards.ie doesn't work.

Politics.ie works, with the cloudfare captcha challenge first. Tumblr works OK. YouTube works OK.

I'm not convinced so far. It looks like I won't be able to use it as my default browser, so I'm not sure I'm motivated to have two browsers running all the time.

Hi Rainyday,

Have you tried to create a new Facebook account just over Tor yet? I'd like to see if it's possible to do one from scratch with an assumed name - of course technically we can't ever be anonymous on Facebook as you have to provide your real name!

RainyDay · 25-01-2015 12:13pm

obsidianclock wrote: »

Hi Rainyday,

Have you tried to create a new Facebook account just over Tor yet? I'd like to see if it's possible to do one from scratch with an assumed name - of course technically we can't ever be anonymous on Facebook as you have to provide your real name!

Nope, haven't tried that.

I was a bit surprised to find that Facebook don't seem to have joined the dots. While using the TOR version, I get warnings in the TOR version that I'm logging in from somewhere unusual, like Croatia. Wouldn't you think that they'd realise that if I'm using the TOR version, of course my logins are going to come from unusual locations.

And one more site for the blacklist of sites who blacklist TOR - thejournal.ie - why on earth would they be sensitive to login locations?

Khannie · 25-01-2015 1:40pm

Kinet1c wrote: »

Boards doesn't allow tor traffic for whatever reason.

You can thank the trolls for that.

_Jumper_ · 26-01-2015 12:21am

RainyDay wrote: »

Nope, haven't tried that.

I was a bit surprised to find that Facebook don't seem to have joined the dots. While using the TOR version, I get warnings in the TOR version that I'm logging in from somewhere unusual, like Croatia. Wouldn't you think that they'd realise that if I'm using the TOR version, of course my logins are going to come from unusual locations.

And they even have an onion address.

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2014/11/facebook-allows-tor-access-site/

https://facebookcorewwwi.onion

RainyDay · 26-01-2015 5:21pm

_Jumper_ wrote: »

And they even have an onion address.

http://www.darknet.org.uk/2014/11/facebook-allows-tor-access-site/

https://facebookcorewwwi.onion

Yep, it was the FB onion address I was using, which is why I was surprised to get warnings about logins from distant locations. And when I click the warning notification in the FB app on my phone, I get an Internet 'address not found' for an FB onion URL.

_Jumper_ · 26-01-2015 7:56pm

RainyDay wrote: »

Yep, it was the FB onion address I was using, which is why I was surprised to get warnings about logins from distant locations. And when I click the warning notification in the FB app on my phone, I get an Internet 'address not found' for an FB onion URL.

Ah right, just a gimmick from them so.

obsidianclock · 28-01-2015 11:42am

RainyDay wrote: »

Nope, haven't tried that.

I was a bit surprised to find that Facebook don't seem to have joined the dots. While using the TOR version, I get warnings in the TOR version that I'm logging in from somewhere unusual, like Croatia. Wouldn't you think that they'd realise that if I'm using the TOR version, of course my logins are going to come from unusual locations.

And one more site for the blacklist of sites who blacklist TOR - thejournal.ie - why on earth would they be sensitive to login locations?

Agree that does seem a bit unusual... Maybe they just don't want to run two parallel versions of Facebook, still it seems a pain!

Of course it was always possible to use only exit nodes for a certain country by editing the torrc file but this has privacy implications by restricting you to a certain network.

Also if you're going to say that you have to have a real name and mobile number to create a Facebook account, I'm not sure I see the advantage over a social network like Diaspora which requires neither and can be accessed over tor also.

obsidianclock · 28-01-2015 11:45am

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

'Downloading Binaries From Random Unsecured Websites Still A Bad Idea'

Whoever would have guessed? :-D

_Jumper_ · 31-01-2015 7:26pm

obsidianclock wrote: »

Hi Rainyday,

Have you tried to create a new Facebook account just over Tor yet? I'd like to see if it's possible to do one from scratch with an assumed name - of course technically we can't ever be anonymous on Facebook as you have to provide your real name!

Depends on the country.

obsidianclock · 31-01-2015 8:35pm

_Jumper_ wrote: »

Depends on the country.

How do you mean?

_Jumper_ · 31-01-2015 8:46pm

obsidianclock wrote: »

How do you mean?

Ya can pick any name you want in some countries.

RainyDay · 31-01-2015 9:47pm

bedlam wrote: »

Something else is going on. If you are connecting to the Tor hidden service the only connecting IP address they will see for you is localhost. The only reason Facebook would see you coming from a different public IP would be if you are connecting to www.facebook.com over Tor.

Sorry, yes, that's right. The 'other country' warnings came when I was logging in to Facebook.com via TOR. However, now, each time I log into the Facebook onion address, I get a warning that I've logged in from 'somewhere unexpected'. Facebook asks me to verify that login, and if I try to verify it from FB on my phone, it crashes when it tries to hit the FB onion address.

RainyDay · 06-02-2015 11:19pm

Anyone else having trouble with TOR in the past couple of days? Could UPC have blocked it or something?

_Jumper_ · 07-02-2015 12:18am

_Jumper_ wrote: »

Ya can pick any name you want in some countries.

But not China.

Christ, they're trying again to make registration of your real name compulsory on even discussion sites now aswell.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/04/us-china-internet-censorship-idUSKBN0L80ZF20150204

None of this in...Germany for example.

Khannie · 07-02-2015 8:07pm

RainyDay wrote: »

Anyone else having trouble with TOR in the past couple of days? Could UPC have blocked it or something?

I haven't had any trouble. I'm on eircom.

RainyDay · 13-09-2015 9:26am

Has anyone used a TOR browser on Android? I see a few apps, but would love to hear from others before I choose;

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.guardianproject.browser

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nu.tommie.inbrowser

anvilfour · 13-09-2015 11:53am

RainyDay wrote: »

Has anyone used a TOR browser on Android? I see a few apps, but would love to hear from others before I choose;

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.guardianproject.browser

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nu.tommie.inbrowser

Hi Rainyday,

I used Orbot + Orweb back in 2012.

I was fairly happy when trying to access clear sites but had huge problems trying to access tor hidden services .. it was much slower than a computer. Recently I tried to access Facebook's onion address from a Samsung Galaxy phone using Orweb but had to give up because it took too long, other sites loaded fine.

anvilfour · 13-09-2015 11:54am

RainyDay wrote: »

Anyone else having trouble with TOR in the past couple of days? Could UPC have blocked it or something?

Have you considered setting up private bridge chief? Alternatively obfsproxy might be worth a bash.

anvilfour · 13-09-2015 12:00pm

Guardian Project are also working on a new tor based mobile browser:

https://dev.guardianproject.info/projects/orfox-private-browser/news

RainyDay · 13-09-2015 12:45pm

anvilfour wrote: »

Hi Rainyday,

I used Orbot + Orweb back in 2012.

I was fairly happy when trying to access clear sites but had huge problems trying to access tor hidden services .. it was much slower than a computer. Recently I tried to access Facebook's onion address from a Samsung Galaxy phone using Orweb but had to give up because it took too long, other sites loaded fine.

Tks, very interesting. I'm not trying to access hidden services - just keen to keep prying eyes off my regular day to day stuff. So maybe Orweb is the best option for me.

anvilfour wrote: »

Guardian Project are also working on a new tor based mobile browser:

https://dev.guardianproject.info/projects/orfox-private-browser/news

Tks, what would the difference be between this new browser and Orweb?

anvilfour wrote: »

Have you considered setting up private bridge chief? Alternatively obfsproxy might be worth a bash.

Seems like a bit OTT for my needs. I don't run a server, just a standard Windows laptop, but thanks for the suggestion.

Khannie · 14-09-2015 11:50am

I'm going to second a private bridge. They're a bit of effort to set up, but they can seriously enhance your Tor experience for two main reasons:

1) You trust the first hop (lots of benefits here)
2) You know how much bandwidth is available and if it's better than Tor average you're winning

I am using one and I found my average speed on Tor went from ~4.5Mbps to ~6.5Mbps. That's a serious improvement though there is fluctuation with it.

RainyDay · 14-09-2015 12:15pm

Khannie wrote: »

I'm going to second a private bridge. They're a bit of effort to set up, but they can seriously enhance your Tor experience for two main reasons:

1) You trust the first hop (lots of benefits here)
2) You know how much bandwidth is available and if it's better than Tor average you're winning

I am using one and I found my average speed on Tor went from ~4.5Mbps to ~6.5Mbps. That's a serious improvement though there is fluctuation with it.

Do I need a server for this, or can I set it up on my bog-standard (and fairly clunky and overstretched) Windows laptop?

Khannie · 14-09-2015 12:35pm

Typically you would use a server, but it should be possible to set it up on your laptop and have port forwarding on your home router (once the laptop is always on).

edit: If none of this makes sense to you, a private bridge is probably going to be more hassle than it's worth.

anvilfour · 14-09-2015 1:41pm

Khannie wrote: »

Typically you would use a server, but it should be possible to set it up on your laptop and have port forwarding on your home router (once the laptop is always on).

edit: If none of this makes sense to you, a private bridge is probably going to be more hassle than it's worth.

Well said Khannie.

My own advice is to have a VPS (Virtual Private Server) dedicated to the bridge and which is used for nothing else. They only cost a few dollars a month and setting up the private bridge is very easy, there are loads of guides online.

If you want to be ultra secure you need to make sure there's no way to connect the server to you. One way you can increase the odds of this is to pay the server fees in Bitcoin, which if used correctly is untraceable.

anvilfour · 15-09-2015 8:59am

In a more holistic sense I will say that pretty much all the major vulnerabilities in Tor come from the entry/exit nodes. That's why protecting that "first hop" as Khannie puts it by using a private bridge increases your protection hugely.

Accessing sites on the "clear" web can be problematic inasmuch that an adversary has several types of attacks they can use by monitoring exit nodes, which in fairness can be mitigated by connecting to websites using SSL only. This is of course assuming the nodes themselves aren't run by a dishonest person or law enforcement who aren't harvesting data about which sites you connect to and other browsing habits.

Pretty much all these vulnerabilities disappear when you stick to using "dark web" sites e.g through using Bitmessage's Onion address to set up and check your e-mail rather than their regular website.

This of course will only make it much more difficult for someone monitoring your connection to tell which website you are connecting to and in the case of the website to which you are connecting, near impossible to trace your IP. It doesn't protect from side channel attacks like key loggers, malware, "evil maid" attacks etc.

For this reason when I access Tor services I use the TAILS Operating System booted from a DVD, this way even someone with physical access with your machine would be unlikely to be able to install keylogging software as you're not booting from the hard drive.

Khannie · 15-09-2015 12:18pm

anvilfour wrote: »

If you want to be ultra secure you need to make sure there's no way to connect the server to you. One way you can increase the odds of this is to pay the server fees in Bitcoin, which if used correctly is untraceable.

With a private bridge you're unfortunately bollixed in terms of connecting the bridge with you because all of your traffic to and from the bridge will be via your normal IP.

anvilfour · 15-09-2015 5:28pm

Khannie wrote: »

With a private bridge you're unfortunately bollixed in terms of connecting the bridge with you because all of your traffic to and from the bridge will be via your normal IP.

VPN maybe?

In any case there does seem to be cause to believe that having torified traffic on your home internet singles people out for greater surveillance so a private bridge might be a case of prevention being better than cure.

Khannie · 23-09-2015 2:13pm

I think that used to be the case alright, but with the growth in the number of VPN and Tor users over time, I would hope that will stop.

TOR Entry and Exit nodes

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