Hacklog Volume 1 Anonymity: it security & Ethical Hacking Handbook

particular the projects  highlighted in the  home section –  have been abandoned;
the  official  IRC  channels  is  desert  too.  Perhaps  one  shouldn’t  complain  too
much, but it’s something you have to consider if you wish to spend some time on
this  network.  Another  relevant  factor  may  be  the  I2P  foundation;  it  has  been
written in “Java”, a real CPU vampire. The group is at work on a fresh and better
performing software, based on a I2P kernel recording in C++, namely the I2PD
project
[50]
.
4.3 Freenet
Like I2P, the Freenet network is a peer-to-peer technology that leverages the
users  resources  (bandwidth,  space  and  processing  power)  to  create  an  alternate
communication  tool  with  high  security  standard.  It  was  designed  15  years  ago,
but  has  still  much  to  say:  just  think  that
duckduckgo.com
 (the  popular  search
engine  considered  as  an  anonymous  alternative  to  Google)  donated  25,000$  to
the project in May 2016. Freenet is not a proxing system for clearnet navigation,
exactly  as  I2P,  therefore  we  will  only  cover  the  Deep  Web  navigation.  The
Freenet project started as a free tool with no censorship; the first prototype was
designed by Ian Clarke in 1999 and published for the first time in March 2000.
It’s  the  oldest  project  of  the  three,  considering  TOR  and  I2P.  The  system  is
entirely  based  on  the  peer-to-peer  technology,  then  nobody  can  control  what  is

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published  and  it’s  theoretically  impossible  to  identify  the  author  of  a  given
content. The P2P network was created to connect users with their friends (if they
wish to have a safer network) or geolocalize with other user (to have a faster and
more stable network). Users (called nodes) are interconnected but nobody knows
whether  a  message  is  actually  sent  by  the  sender  or  through  an  intermediary
node.
4.3.1 Freenet installation
Freenet was created in Java, then if you wish to use it you must get the Java
Environment  Runtime
[51]
.  From  GNU/Linux  (Debian  8)  install  it  using  the
command:
$ su
$ apt-get install default-jre
If you have been attending the course since the beginning, you should have
already installed it, since I2P is distributed with the JRE installer. Now you can
follow  the  Freenet  official  guide,  as  we  used  it  to  provide  you  with  the
recommended  steps.  Download  the  self-installing  script  and  rename  it  as
follows:
$ wget 'https://freenetproject.org/assets/jnlp/freenet_installer.jar' -O installer.jar
Launch it by using the command: If you are the root user, logout to a normal
user with the exit command:
$ exit
$ java -jar installer.jar
An  installation  wizard  will  follow;  proceed  until  you  receive  the  successful
setup message, and let your browser get completely loaded.
4.3.2 Configuring Freenet
The first launch of Freenet includes a short system configuration step. Here

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you can choose between two pre-configurations:
*
   
Low  security  level:  you  will  be  connected  to  random  Freenet  users.  This
options is the fastest. However, other users may monitor data traffic and identify
you.
*
   
High  security  level:  you  can  only  connect  to  friends  already  in  Freenet.
Although safer, this option requires a high users count in the circuit.
The  further  option  is  a  custom  configuration  for  your  specific  activity.  You
can also change options later, through the Freenet configuration panel. After the
wizard  prompts,  you  will  be  redirected  to  the  initial  dashboard,  where  you  can
monitor the network and use other features.
4.3.3 Using Freenet
Unlike TOR or I2P, the system is installed as an internal proxy through the
following  address:
http://localhost:8888
;  you  don’t  need  to  reconfigure  your
navigation browser. This way, the client is always on – if you wish to contribute
keeping the network alive – and you can access it only when necessary, without
using particular browsers. Go to the initial dashboard at
http://localhost:8888
(or
http://127.0.0.1:8888  according  to  your  preferences)  and  you  will  see  an  initial
list of links you can access to, just like I2P.
When  you  open  a  link,  it  may  not  load  immediately,  showing  a  timeout  screen
instead  (Figure  22).  The  value  shown  is  the  remaining  time  before  the  page  is
resolved in your browser:

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