Hacklog Volume 1 Anonymity: it security & Ethical Hacking Handbook

Figure 22: a page loading on Freenet
4.3.4 Freenet useful resource
The  Freenet  ecosystem  is  kept  alive  by  the  community,  constantly  creating
new materials. Most of it is political propaganda, or whistle blowing against the
abuse perpetrated by governments or public entities, however we cannot exclude
the presence of marketplaces, pornography, and graphic content.
Freesites
Freesites  are  the  essence  of  Freenet.  They  are  user-created  and  loaded
directly from the Freenet client dashboard.
How to create one is explained here:
http://localhost:8888/insertsite/
; you can
also find tools like Sharesite and FlogHelper
[52]
to facilitate the creation, while
the list of the active sites is broken down to three tiers
[53]
:
•
Enzo’s Index contains all sites, sorted by language, category, etc.
•
The Filtered Index contains sites, excluding the disturbing ones.
•
     
Nerdageddon  mostly  contains  open  source  documents  and  informative
sites.
Besides  the  above  official  ones,  I  wish  to  share  some  non  official,  but
complete ones:
•
Linkageddon is organized as Nerdageddon but without any site filtering.
•
     
The Ultimate FreeNet Index is another index filled with freesites, you can
choose the category.
•
     
TPI: The Public Index, a website directory, autonomously managed by the
community. The instructions to reach a freesite are available at the bottom of the
page.
•
AFKindex, a directory updated through Freenet crawling. Erotic and porno
sites are filtered out.

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Once loaded, the freesites stay within the network and are shared by peers, as
long  as  they  get  regular  views.  If  ignored  for  too  long,  they  are  automatically
deleted.
Social Networking
Freenet  has  an  internal  suite  of  programs,  allowing  communications  among
users,  something  impossible  with  the  static  freesites,  that  allow  only  “one-to-
many”  communications.  To  learn  more  about  these  tools,  visit  the
Communication page
[54]
.
Mail
Freemail  is  the  official  tool  to  communicate  with  others  in  the  Freenet
network. It is pre-installed in the Freenet package, but is not enabled by default.
To  enable,  go  to  the  plug-ins  page
[55]
,  select  Freemail  and  click  the  “Load”
button.  This  tool  allows  you  to  communicate  only  with  Freenet  user,  or,  better,
those  belonging  to  the  Web  of  Trust.  WoT  is  an  additional  plug-in  (it  must  be
enabled  just  like  Freemail)  allowing  to  have  an  identity  recognized  within  the
network.  Once  enabled,  you  have  to  setup  a  fist  alias  before  you  can  use
Freemail,  then  you  will  be  able  to  create  and  use  multiple  aliases  at  the  same
time.  In  other  words,  Freemail  can  be  used  only  by  the  registered  users  in  the
Web of Trust, and not outside the Freenet network.
4.3.5 Security in Freenet
We  assume  that  Freenet  is  a  very  secure  network,  as  long  as  it  is  used
properly. Keep in mind that your privacy will depend on the number of “friends”
you  are  connected  to  in  Freenet:  if  you  haven’t  any,  you  will  be  connected  to
strangers. For this reason, Freenet can be configured for different security levers:
you  can  change  them  in  the  dashboard  menu  under  Configuration  ->  Security
Level.  The  higher  the  level,  the  higher  the  network  security  (compromising
speed).
Furthermore,  Freenet  has  a  second  option,  in  case  your  computer  is
confiscated:  from  the  Security  Level  page,  you  can  set  one  of  four  encryption
levels,  from  the  weakest  (no  encryption  at  all)  to  the  most  paranoid  one
(everything related to Freenet is wiped at every restart). Personally, I recommend
you to use the Medium-High level on Linux Live systems (we will cover them

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later), while the Paranoia Level should be used only in Virtual Machines or on
Computers you use frequently and consistently.

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5. Combo Network
Now we are ready to discuss one of the hottest topics about anonymity: TOR
and VPN – how to use them jointly? Or, better, TOR via VPN or VPN via TOR?
Conventionally,  we  will  relate  to  TOR  as  an  “anonymizing”  network.  We
won’t cover the others, because their nature cannot be related to Clearnet.
Before  we  can  answer  such  questions,  we  need  to  remember  some  key
points: regardless of the use of TOR, you should always use VPNs not just to be
anonymous, but rather to protect yourself when you use an unsafe hotspot  (like
airports, hotels, bars etc.) or if you’re afraid your home router is monitored. All
networks, and especially the public ones, may be traffic-monitored. This reason
should  be  enough  to  have  an  active  VPN  all  the  time,  regardless  of  how  much
you feel safe about the hotspot you connect to.
Our  navigation  data,  or  at  least  the  ones  we  want  to  safeguard  (emails,
passwords, credit cards and whatnot) must pass through a secure VPN, in order
to avoid attacks in the local network. Also remember what we mentioned about
VPN no-logs.
It’s true that you can do the same with TOR, as long as you take the proper
precautions;  it’s  also  true,  however,  that  using  the  sole  TOR  network  could
probably  make  you  a  suspect.  Of  what,  you  may  ask?  Whether  you  are  doing
something  illegal  or  not,  the  NSA/FBI/GCC  and  all  the  other
governmental/private monitoring bodies want to know if you are using TOR or
even just Linux. One of those blacklists is known as NSA watch list online, but
we cannot exclude that others than NSA deal with this kind of business. How do
they now if you are using TOR? They just ask the ISP. Then you must not only
hide your activities to sites and online services, but also leave no visible traces to
the ISP.

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5.1 TOR via VPN
This configuration follows this pattern
Computer -> VPN -> TOR -> Internet
Assuming  that  your  device  connects  to  the  Internet,  when  you  use  a  VPN
everything  passing  through  the  net  will  be  encrypted,  and  from  such  tunneling
you  will  connect  to  TOR  routering,  hiding  the  network  access  from  the  ISP.  I
mentioned no-logs above because, using a VPN you hide your activities from the
ISP,  but  if  the  VPN  doesn’t  enforce  a  serious  privacy  policy,  it  may  store  your
activities, compromising all your efforts.
Connecting  to  TOR  after  the  VPN  tunneling,  the  VPN  provider  may  know
you’re  using  the  TOR  network,  just  like  an  ISP.  The  latter  may  know  you  are
connecting to a VPN, but not to the TOR network. Then, the VPN provider may
store  all  the  non  encrypted  activities.  We  may  choose  a  TOR  over  VPN
configuration for many reasons, including:
Pro
-
     
You  hide  your  TOR  activity  from  your  ISP,  limiting  the  NSA  watch  list
effect
-
You can access the deep web (.onion addresses et similia)
-
The TOR entry node won’t get your IP but the VPN one
Cons
-
You will tell your VPN provider you’re using TOR
-
     
If the exit node is compromised, your VPN provider will be exposed (but
not your real IP), in this case, choose a really secure and logs free VPN
-
Some TOR exit nodes reject connections from VPNs.
Some  VPNs  offer  “TOR  over  VPN”  services,  simply  performing  a
configuration in OpenVPN. If your VPN provider allows that, probably you can
find a dedicated section in their website to learn how to do it.

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5.1.1 How to perform TOR via VPN
As  an  Operative  System-level  solution,  you  can  connect  the  Whonix
Workstation  to  your  VPN,  while  the  Gateway  will  be  already  connected  to  the
TOR network. We will discuss Whonix later, so if you wish, take a look at that