Southeastern Preppers Network
Welcome, Rules, Forum Usage, and Introductions => Forum Use: Tips, Tricks, and Hints => Topic started by: Lilburner on July 25, 2015, 03:57:09 PM
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I've met dozens of people who would like to, but don't participate in prepping, preparedness, homesteading, etc. types of sites because they don't want the government to know what they're up to. I'm not one of those people, but it's actually possible to participate without leaving a trace
Yes it's free. AND it's super powerful. It was developed for the US Navy and it's currently keeping a whole lot of Russian bloggers out of prison. Journalists use it to hide their location and protect their sources.
The first of two parts of what you need to get started is an anonymous browser. There may be others, but the defacto standard is Tor. Here's an excellent introduction.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/a-beginners-guide-to-tor-how-to-navigate-through-the-underground-internet/
And here's where you get it for Windows, Mac, or *Nix https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en
"But I don't even want them to know I downloaded a powerful tool of freedom". Get it off McDonald's or Starbucks Wifi, or if your tinfoil hat is very tight, just download it on someone else's machine - library, friend, work, etc., and put it on a thumb drive.
Here's what a Tor Browser looks like to the world as it's connected to this site as of this writing.
(http://i.imgur.com/sOZPtzm.png)
You can consantly shift and change, too - note the "New Tor Circuit" button - so you could get different IP route for every page if you were so inclined.
The second part is a WORKING email address separate from the one(s) you use for day to day. Some uf us have pretty much unlimited mail addresses, but some people don't even understand you can have all you want.
Get yourself a (or a dozen) working email address from any of a number of sites where you can both get the address for free and actually read the mail for free.
Here's a recent list of 10 to choose from. I like having multiple GMail accounts and going back and forth between the logins on my browser, but if you want to keep it simple, you could check out the others.
http://email.about.com/od/freeemailreviews/tp/free_email.htm
Hope that helps!
Leave your questions and comments below.
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If you need to read this post to learn, the govt already has every bit of info on you and are tracking you nearly live and in person.
Nemo
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TOR is know to be infiltrated by the NSA and FBI. It's not secure. You need an encrypted VPN to remain secure. Preferably one not based in the USA that is subject to National Security Letters. Gmail requires a real phone number to create an account, Yahoo does not. Your IP address is saved by Google and other email providers when you create and read your email. So only create it and use it when you are logged into your VPN. Disable as many programs as you can before you log into the VPN. Many apps "phone home", that is to say they contact their home server for updates and they send your IP address and account/registration info. One example if Norton AV or other AV programs. Others are Skype, OneDrive, Microsoft Office, etc. When you are connected to the VPN never check your real email, Facebook, or log into anything that is connected to your real identity. Otherwise you might as well not use a VPN or TOR. So shutdown everything, clean your browser cache, disable AV updates, login to the VPN through a country like Germany, read this website, logout of the VPN, clean your browser cache and temp folder, then enable AV updates. It's can be a pain, but it limits your exposure and traceability to anyone that is collecting data.
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If you need to read this post to learn, the govt already has every bit of info on you and are tracking you nearly live and in person.
Nemo, it's never too late to start limiting your exposure to tracking.
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Sounds interesting. Let me clarify, though - and I'm asking because I really don't know.
All of these governments who have tried to crack it unsuccessfully, keeping reporters, bloggers, etc. safe - that's because they don't have a back door, but our own NSA does? Just want to make sure that I'm understanding that it's not so much "easily crackable" as "already compromised".
Sounds like good ideas about VPN. Any advice for people who want to get started?
I'm not an authority or even devotee on the upper reaches of privacy security. I'm happy just to keep people out of my own network. I treat every byte that leaves the machine as already public knowledge. Kind of anomaly. Maybe I'm the most secure of all!
No offense to those who do, and I'll even support people's feelings as someone deeply involved in the internet communications of the preparedness community (ie by starting this post), but I'm just not worried about my activities. I just don't picture myself being first on the list when they start breaking down doors over who hit up the peanut butter sale twice. I just figure I'm far enough down the list if they do start breaking down doors, by the time they get to me, there won't be anything behind mine.
Frankly I'd be more afraid of facial recognition at a Tea Party rally than to talk about canning, camping, first aid, and even an above average enthusiasm for shooting sports on the internet. That's just me, though. Like I said - I'll actively support the people who feel differently. I'd rather have them here participating in a way they feel "safe" than not participating at all.
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I should clarify.
I do believe in OPSEC of course and practice it.
If you google anything you see about me here, you'd think I was just dropped in from outer space to be a prepper - nothing matches to business and family - not emails, ids, etc. You can find out my real name from my call sign, but that's about it, and my call is OPSECed in its own way. Also notice that while I share it here, it's not in a searchable plain text format.
People doing business with me don't use a "giantprepper" email prefix - the twitter and Pinterest I link to are dedicated, etc.
I'm just not too worried about the NSA descending on me over rice, beans, and peanut butter.
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These articles suggest that the NSA has cracked the TOR network.
http://thehackernews.com/2013/09/NSA-can-crack-TOR-Encryptio-Snowden-files-.html (http://thehackernews.com/2013/09/NSA-can-crack-TOR-Encryptio-Snowden-files-.html)
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/tor-encryption-cracked-nsa,news-17530.html (http://www.tomsguide.com/us/tor-encryption-cracked-nsa,news-17530.html)
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OK - like I said, I wasn't being argumentative - I really don't know.
And I really would like for you to do something on VPN to help people get started. I'm not qualified.
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Here is a list of VPNs. I have no recommendation other than one that is not based in the USA.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403388,00.asp (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403388,00.asp)
https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition/ (https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition/)
Also, NEVER sign up for "private" email services. Many are hosted by 3 letter government agencies. What a racket, you want privacy and you end up using the NSA as your email service.
If you want to encrypt emails you can use PGP that uses public/private keys. http://www.pgpi.org/ (http://www.pgpi.org/) or you can create text files and use WinZip http://www.winzip.com (http://www.winzip.com) to create ZIPX files with AES 256 encryption that you give a strong password then email. Hushmail may be a viable option http://openpgp.org/members/hush.shtml (http://openpgp.org/members/hush.shtml) but I have not checked it out.
For your phone there are encrypted text and voice apps like RedPhone and TextSecure by https://whispersystems.org/ (https://whispersystems.org/) are good. Again not an endorsement.
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I read the Tor articles - fortunately it looks like something from a couple years ago saying that they'd cracked 4.3, but 4.4 was already out.
It's definitely a game of leapfrog. You have to stay ahead of the curve.
Before I saw the dates on the articles, I went to check my Tor and it just happened to want an upgrade. I think they do a pretty good job of telling you when it's time to upgrade.
(http://i.imgur.com/XnWA0ZU.png)
That was wanting to upgrade from 4.53 to 5
I'll reiterate again though, that I'm no authority. I treat every byte that goes into the wire as if it's public anyway. My thing is I just don't care. Any time you read one of those "prepper busted" articles, you get about halfway in and go "well duh". It's never JUST about prepping in the preparedness sense.
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TOR has its problems. HTTPS has been cracked. Here are some sites that point out the problems and how TOR can be hacked. I'm not sure Private VPNs and AES-256 encryption are secure enough to keep out the NSA. Given enough time and hardware anything can be cracked. It's just a matter of who's doing it and how bad they want the information.
http://www.g-loaded.eu/2011/04/02/how-secure-is-the-tor-network-for-everyday-internet-browsing/ (http://www.g-loaded.eu/2011/04/02/how-secure-is-the-tor-network-for-everyday-internet-browsing/)
http://blog.erratasec.com/2013/08/anonymity-smackdown-nsa-vs-tor.html (http://blog.erratasec.com/2013/08/anonymity-smackdown-nsa-vs-tor.html)
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-the-nsa-or-anyone-else-can-crack-tors-anonymity (http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-the-nsa-or-anyone-else-can-crack-tors-anonymity)
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Let me be clear. TOR is not bad. I just think the security is questionable. Most people need to focus on the below items first.
1. Use quality antivirus software that is kept up to date several times a day. You get what you pay for. Free AV or Microsoft Defender are not enough. Set it up to do a full systems scan every day/night.
2. Used long passwords that include numbers and symbols. Use different passwords for computer login and websites. Use different passwords for banking, Amazon, and any other site you purchase anything from and use a credit card not your ATM. Norton 360 has a password vault that helps with this.
3. Keep Windows up to date. Install those updates!
4. Erase the browser cookies, history, and clear the cache regularly. Apps like ccleaner do this.
5. Backup your computer to an external USB drive. Encrypted would be best.
6. Stop posting what you are doing and thinking on Facebook and Twitter.
7. Don't click on web links you get in emails that are unexpected. It doesn't matter who you think it's from.
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This thread hasn't been near the top lately & I thought it was time for a brief OPSEC review so I read through it all again.
(1) Assume that SEPREP - APN & all other prepping, veteran, gun/ammo, patriotic & political site have at least 1 embedded spy-infiltrator that uses human intel who monitors it.
(2) Know that web-crawlers are scanning EVERYTHING on every single website you visit for buzz words/group of words & storing flagged content by using algorithyms (sp?)
Don't believe me? Look at the bottom of the forum page. Spider=webcrawler ... webcrawler=big brother.
(3) This site is fully monitored but if the human spy or spies are too busy, they might miss something but giggle analytics will not. Notice the typo on "goo gal" Robots are pretty stupid about some things such as typos. When analyzing emails, they usually only scan then first 4 lines & not PDF attachments.
(4) Every person in USA has a profile at a fusion center. (don't believe me? - Duckduckgo it. NEVER Gooo gle anything except non-important stuff) That fusion profile knows everything about every one of us including every website you visit & what you did there. With smart TVs, your pro.file also has what TV shows you watch, purchases you make with credit cards are saved easily traced.
(5) Want to confuse your big brother? Only use debit /ciredit card for emergencies & not gas or prep purchases. Fe MA can confiscate your preps in TEOTWAWKI situation. OPSEC on every post. Also, when filling out forms, change your name address & phone every different site. Stop online purchasing .
(6) talking about SHTF plans? Leave phone in car, use pen & paper, Never on phone or minimal details.
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Encryption is your friend and use strong passwords for websites!
Again, VPNs encrypt your connection from your computer to there servers, so anyone logging your activity only sees an encrypted stream.
Best VPN Services for 2015
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2403388,00.asp
Best FREE VPN Services for 2015
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2390381,00.asp
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If you are not on a govt list by now...you should be ashamed of yourself. If you are a veteran you are already at the top of the list. Not to mention a DL, bank account, SSN, property taxes and the list goes on. Limit your electronic footprint is wise maybe but why live in fear?
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Im glad someone else is on the tor is broke bandwagon. I try to explain to others its been broken for years now and people don't believe me. They believe what they want to. The truth is like lilburner said The NSA isn't worried about how much beans and rice you are hoarding. They are after bigger fish that are up to no good. I was at a security conference over 5 years ago and there was an NSA geek doing a presentation and he basically laughed at 128 bit aes encryption as being broken years ago and wasn't a problem for him to decrypt. That was 5 years ago. Im sure technology has increased since then and 256 is probably no problem.
I just don't believe there is anything out there that is safe except maybe whats in my mind or a one time pad. And I think the govt would like to be able to break both of those if they could. I know too much about a lot of things but not enough about any one thing. LOL Jack of all trades master of none. And if I know what I know think about what all the people in the know know :)
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It is conceivable that they have cracked AES-265 encryption, but it's the best we have and we should use it. Given enough time anything can be cracked. The easier method is to crack you until you give them the password.
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Assume any encryption can be compromised. Assume any method of communication / web surfing can be tracked. Tor is good but assume by now the big boys have the ability to at least track exit nodes if not crack it. They are actively targeting it. VPN's that are US based are probably compromised. Windows is garbage as an OS and Mac is better but probably has a few backdoors for the .gov people. Open source is the best option but has a learning curve.
Now that we have the basics established. The best thing we can do is become unpredictable. Use multiple ways to log in. VPN one time Tor another, crap even use public a terminal to access. The more ways you browse the better. It helps to break your metric pattern and add another web to tracking that needs to be followed through. Use linux, boot from a virtual machine, borrow a buddies tablet and log in. Log in from a hotel (use the hardwired ethernet not the wifi) or have a cheap tablet and surf from the lobby wifi and throw it away. You don't have to log in every time. Visit sites you normally wouldn't or even sections for that matter. We are all creatures of habit and have predicability patterns. The more we can obfuscate and add layers the more we load the system and at least make it more difficult to track or tie up resources. Time comes drop the technology and go dark. Having a clean never before accessed system. That was home built may buy you a one time log in. By changing things up your digital fingerprint changes and adds more smudges to hide behind. Don't think that you are ever totally hidden.
There again the computer CPU could have shipped with a backdoor and your hosed from the get go.............
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If you're on the internet, you aren't that worried.
Main Points:
-TOR and VPNs attract attention, but just look like encrypted traffic. It's impossible to profile by encrypted traffic type as the packets cant be inspected for type. It's nearly impossible to just find someone doing even truly bad stuff unless you already know a) they are doing something you want to watch b) details about where they are accessing the net. Seriously, the sheer volume of encrypted traffic
-TOR was cracked and had to patch up the hole last year, yet somehow tons of hackers still didnt go to prison as a result of the hole.
-If you know how to remain anonymous, then you know how hard it is to do so. Refraining from downloading stupid stuff is a start.
-once again, refrain from downloading stupid stuff. If you cant find it on chocolately (a dowload tool), you probably don't need it. Dont download anything directly from cnet/download.com and try to avoid sourceforge. Dont use client based email (outlook, thunderbird, postbox, applemail, etc.) as these programs can store malware in the inbox.
-Many Methods of preserving anonymity are stackable. You need at a minimum PC firewall (i like zonealarm), PC anti-malware (my favorite is panda security), a home router with NAT (at least until IPv6 takes over), and either TOR or a VPN.
A path to anonymity (easily) is by going to public Wifi, dragging down a VPN (install and be prepared to pay for quality), light up the VPN and drag TOR through the VPN. Set up TOR for bridging. Then light up the VPN and open TOR browser for Anything you wish to remain anonymous. If the GOVT doesnt nail the tens of thousands of Hacktivists operating at any moment, they dont care enough about some prepper.
P.S. You can download this stuff from home. There's seriously so many packets transferring, you won't arouse any suspicion. Your service provider isn't inspecting your packets at the CMTS, and at the i-bone there's too much data (like petabytes) at any time to find any one drop in the river.
P.S.S. You can never fill all the holes in a tin foil hat.
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Hey, hide yourself, use hiding software, surf in the dark (no lights) at home or the office, sneak around to use the network access that is not secured at some house 3 neighborhoods over or walmart somewhere, wear tinfoil in your hat and only flat rubber shoes.
It don't matter. They already know who you are. And are watching you.
But the tinfoil helps prevent them from mind reading at a distance. Be sure to keep wearing that. Its important.
Nemo
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Personally, I don't care who knows where I am. I use a VPN, on the odd occasion that I have to access given sites in the US, that may prevent me from doing so while outside the US. One of my banking institutions, for one. But, I honestly have no clue as to why they would even block foreign countries from accessing their site, when all anyone has to do is visit through a VPN. Maybe it makes them feel better? Who knows?
Anyway, if my government is that interested in finding me, they know how to track my through my passport anyway.
I have a little story involving our wonderful government, but will post it in a new thread.