Personal Security And Internet Anonymity Basics

xxRolandxx

Active Member
Well I posted to see if there was interest in this topic earlier and I got a positive response so Im gonna throw this out here to you wolves.

Many of you may already know or do know all or some of the things I want to cover. However if you are currently running Backtrack Linux and cracking your neighbors wifi which you then run through a Tor server...cool. That is awesome. But this is for net newbs who want to have the basics of anonymity so they can at the least protect themselves.

Personal Security and Internet Anonymity Basics:

First of all I want to, in my mind, break down PC security into two basics. Home network and internet interaction.

http://www.truecrypt.org/

Do you have pictures, PDFs, Outlook archives, any information you basically want absolutely no one to see? Ever? Let me introduce you to TrueCrypt. This open source software has the same level of encryption the CIA, dissidents, journalists contacting inside sources..etc. And for true protection you should always go with a double encrypt. What this means is this:

You make an encrypted container. Once finished you put legit looking documents, pics..whatever there. It has a separate and unique password. It is also a red herring. You make a second container inside the first (the install software holds your hands totally, no need to be intimidated) which has then its own password. This is your true secret container. I usually make the first container (depending on my drive space) 5 Gig and the inside one 3 Gig. Now if anyone has your PC in the future...as in an IT forensics team... you can unlock the first container. And never reveal the second one. They can not prove a second (or 10 million) containers are in there in a court of law. That data is under 256bit encryption which would take 10,000 supercomputers 10,000 years to crack (with todays bleeding edge tek). Its safe and will only be revealed if you personally admit that it is there and agree to open it.

Now that your data is safe. But what if you want to share this data online? How can you ensure your location and personal safety?

Allow me to introduce you to Tor. Its a difficult concept to explain so I`m gonna cop out a bit here and ctrl C ctrl V the link:

http://www.torproject.org/about/overview.html

Shit is deep son. And now with the Tor Browser Bundle it is super easy to use. Install it from the Tor site, run it with the Firefox addon and you are a ghost. Seriously. Right now there is not a human being that can track my location of where I post. Why should I be able to do that to you? Protect yourself and your anonymity.

Now its a little slower, you wont be gaming on this. And for normal internet usage, I don't use it. But anything in the grey area... Ill take the extra load time any day for peace of mind that this is one area you don't have to worry as much about.

http://www.techpowerup.org/uploaded.php?file=110130/screen.jpg

Here is a screen cap I tool of me reading Kittys thread (man that room is a beast) as an example. You see it says Tor Enabled..that means you are doing things correctly and running silently. Hi Kitty! You and your hubby rock all kinds of awesome.

No that is not a Mac.

Regarding pictures I also posted a thread about Meta data and how to remove it and why you should here: https://www.rollitup.org/newbie-central/403259-before-you-post-single-picture.html#post5219077

Cheers everybody and be safe!
 

neosapien

Well-Known Member
Cool post. TOR is the shit. If I had more bandwidth I would set up a relay. What OS is that? Is that dock Avant?
 

Serapis

Well-Known Member
I wanted to thank you for providing some very good information. I'm creating an encrypted container right now with 256k encryption and a 30 character password :)
 

xxRolandxx

Active Member
Cool post. TOR is the shit. If I had more bandwidth I would set up a relay. What OS is that? Is that dock Avant?
I run a dual boot. The OS in the screen cap is Windows 7 Ultimate. The dock is rocketdock with some custom icons. My other OS is Backtrack Linux. I am also a big fan of Pinguy OS (A flavor of Ubuntu, its the first all -in-one linux distro that I actually recommend for average users) http://pinguy-os.sourceforge.net/

I use Windows because I love to game too much and Wine cant handle it well. When I need real iron clad security for whatever reason I boot up Backtrack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BackTrack

Hey Serapis! No problem man, glad to help.
 

Ring'n

Active Member
Great post.

But...... (I know there is always a but)

TOR IS easily defeated with deep packet inspection. ISp's, Police and Gov's utilize it to spy on people
without their knowledge.

Anything transmitted across the Internet can be intercepted at any key points ( ISP, Server Connections Etc....)

Always be careful what programs are installed on the pc your using as they can/will & do transmit info.

Always be careful where you browse, and where you go to from each site. Any site can track where you came from and where your going. Instead of typing in an address in the address bar, open a new blank tab then enter the address. Do not use search engines to navigate to questionable or otherwise types of material.

A VPN is the best bet for proxified internet anonniminity, with a VPN YOU and your host can see what is transmitted or where someone navigates ( Of course an ISP can still see all info transmitted to a pc ( Your home pc) on their network using deep packet inspection)

Cookies and temp data is stored on your pc with each site visit. Use a program like window washer or CCleaner to clear internet traces from your pc.

Hope that helps a bit.

For deep chit check out darknet...... :)
 

FriendlyGuy

Well-Known Member
I wanted to thank you for providing some very good information. I'm creating an encrypted container right now with 256k encryption and a 30 character password :)
Thats more letters than the fucking Alphabet... haha--Alpha..Bet. hmmmm I think im on to something guys!
 
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