Everything is anonymous. How to stay anonymous online - a complete guide

Recently the popularity of " anonymous surfing"in RuNet has increased sharply. Tor, VPN, and other services allow you to protect trade secrets and gain access to sites and services that are inaccessible for various reasons. normal connection. We have prepared a guide to the “internet without barriers” for those who want to decide for themselves which sites they should visit and which they should not.

What is this?
An anonymizer is a software tool that allows the user to hide information about his computer, change the IP address, make it impossible to identify someone by traffic, and so on.

Why are anonymizers needed?
Some people think that anonymizers are only needed by criminals and hackers, but in reality this is not the case. The ability to access the Internet via a secure channel and encrypt Internet traffic will be useful to many ordinary users. Let's consider the main methods of application:

- Access to blocked sites. If your provider or, for example, employer blocks some sites, you can easily access them by changing the IP address. Thus, if a company has banned Odnoklassniki, employees will be able to continue using their favorite network. The same applies, for example, to torrent trackers or online libraries. If you do not have access to any site from Russia, you can connect the IP address of the desired country, after which the system will successfully recognize you as a foreigner. Thus, you can access services and sites that are not available on the RuNet - for example, streaming services like Spotify or Netflix. Anonymizer makes you virtually invulnerable to censorship attempts on the Internet. Are you going on vacation to China, but don’t want to lose Facebook and Twitter? With anonymizers this is not a problem.

- Bypassing the ban. If you are banned by your IP address on some resource, just change it and you can use its capabilities again.

- Overcoming virus attacks. Some malware is so advanced that it can even block access to antivirus sites so that you cannot clean your computer, but an anonymizer can help in this case too.

- Ensuring Internet Privacy. If you need to hide your Internet activity from outsiders as much as possible (for example, you are the head of a company who is afraid of surveillance from competitors), anonymizers will help you make your Internet traffic and browser activity less accessible to intelligence agencies and hackers.

- Bypass ISP speed limits. If you try, using an anonymizer you can bypass the limits set by providers on connection speed when transferring certain types of data. For example, the author of this material in this way bypasses Yota’s restrictions on downloading via torrents.

- With the help of anonymizers you can gain access to the “deep” Internet. These are sites that are inaccessible to ordinary users; they simply will not open via a link if you are not connected, for example, to the TOR network.

How to set up a proxy and VPN on your computer?

0. Super easy ways:

Turbo mode in the browser. In “accelerating” turbo mode, browsers pass traffic through their own proxy servers, which are mainly located in other countries. Thus, you can easily bypass blocking. True, there will be no anonymity, and all this does not always work; many sites are simply incompatible with turbo modes. The most advanced and useful turbo mode for a loved one in Russia Opera browser. The method is useful because it is easy to activate: you see that your access to some site is blocked, and simply switch the browser to turbo mode. It is highly likely that access will appear.

Online anonymizers. These are simple sites into which you can enter a link to a resource that is blocked for you and gain access to it. It works quite slowly, but, in principle, stable. You just need to be extremely careful and use only trustworthy sites, because fraud associated with theft of passwords and other unpleasant things is widespread in this segment of services. You can use, for example, PageWash, ProxyWeb , HideMyAss .

TOR is an entire ecosystem that has become a symbol of the era anonymous Internet. At the network a large number of users, there is even its own analogue of the Internet, inaccessible from the main version of the global network.

The system works as follows: TOR users run a proxy server on their computer, which connects to the servers of the TOR “onion” network. Packets in the system pass through several random proxy servers, each of the packets is pre-encrypted with several keys, which are then decrypted by the proxy nodes.

Actually, this is why TOR is called the onion network - since the proxy servers gradually, layer by layer, “undress” the packet cipher, as if peeling the husk from an onion. Passing through this complex network, the traffic becomes almost anonymous; it turns out that it is still possible to determine where it comes from, but it is difficult and very resource-intensive. However, such protection significantly slows down the Internet speed.

Using TOR, you can surf anonymously regular Internet, having a "floating" IP address. This will bypass all blocking. You will also be able to access sites on the “hidden” Internet. You can view their list in the “hidden Wikipedia” Hidden Wiki (available only with an established TOR connection). However, when surfing the secret internet, be extremely careful. The sites located there do not obey any laws; there you can easily encounter dangerous scammers, inadvertently give out your data to hackers, come across illegal pornography and other unpleasant things.

TOR is an open source service source code, distributed free of charge. At the same time, using TOR is very simple; the system requires virtually no configuration. You can download it for free from the official website; there are versions for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Android.

After downloading the client, just click the Connect button and connect to the TOR network, after which the TOR Browser will automatically open - specially configured for maximum security Firefox version. In principle, nothing prevents you from continuing to use any other browser, although security when using TOR Browser will definitely be higher. That's all - as soon as the connection is established, you are no longer subject to blocking and can browse the sites freely and uncensored.

pros - easy to set up, free

Minuses - slow

2. Paid VPN services

If not only freedom, but also speed is important to you, you will have to use a VPN connection. VPN (Virtual Private Network) is an encrypted “tunnel” connection over the Internet that allows you to transmit information relatively securely to remote servers and from them. This allows you to interact with the Internet using an external intermediary who has the desired location and, accordingly, an IP address.

There are a lot of VPN services, but most of them are not free (albeit inexpensive). We will not advertise individual VPN providers, but we note that a Google query is enough to quickly find several foreign companies offering similar services.

VPN is enough reliable way transfer of information. The fact is that even if your traffic is intercepted, it will still remain encrypted, which will allow you to avoid, for example, the notorious NSA surveillance. However, you are not immune from the dishonesty of the VPN provider itself. At the same time, the VPN connection practically does not slow down the speed of the Internet, unlike TOR.

If you have an activated VPN connection to a provider from another country, sites will take you not as a Russian, but, for example, as an Englishman, a Bulgarian, or a resident of any other country of your choice. This will allow you, for example, to make sure that resources open by default in the language you need (for example, if you go to England, but would like your usual sites to open in Russian). And, of course, this will be useful for bypassing blocking.

pros: speed of operation

Minuses: dependence on the VPN provider, mostly provided for a fee

3. Jap

This is a somewhat unusual VPN system that allows you to work with the Internet by passing the connection through several foreign servers using a cascade system. This ensures anonymity and the ability to use a European IP address.

The application can be downloaded for free from the project website; unfortunately, it is only available for Windows. But Jap's settings are more complicated than those of TOR.

After downloading the Jap client, disable the Windows Firewall. After launching the application, enable anonymity in the options. Then go to your browser and configure it for traffic via Jap. This is done differently in different browsers. For example, in Internet Explorer you need to select the "Tools" item, click on "Internet Options" and go to the "Connections" item. After clicking on "LAN Settings", enable "Use a proxy server for local connections". Enter the address 127.0.0.1, port 4001. After that you can start using it.

pros: there is a free version, the system is safe and very reliable

Minuses: no support for operating systems other than Windows low speed work free version, relative complexity of setup.

4. Ultrasurf

A convenient and easy way to work with blocked sites. The application is distributed free of charge, available exclusively on the Windows platform. The application uses a highly complex and partially secret encryption system to access the Internet. There is virtually no need to configure Ultrasurf - just download the client and install it. True, work with Ultrasurf is carried out only with the help Internet browser Explorer, which is not famous for its user-friendly interface. Also, some users do not trust the service, considering it to be controlled by the NSA and American intelligence agencies.

pros: good speed, ease of use

Minuses: opacity of the work scheme, "tied" to Internet Explorer

On smartphones

You can also access Odnoklassniki or other sites blocked for you using mobile devices. Often the easiest way is, again, to simply use “turbo mode” in Chrome, Yandex.Browser, or any other browser that can compress traffic. In order to “lighten” the pages, it passes a stream of data through its servers - that is, it does, in essence, the same thing as an anonymizer (although for Google or Yandex themselves, of course, you are not anonymous). However, this simple method does not work with all sites, unfortunately.

For iOS users, we can recommend Onion Browser (yes, exactly the one that is used on computers to access the TOR network). It allows you to fully use the Internet privately and anonymously. You can download it from the App Store for 33 rubles. For Android users Onion Browser is not available, but there is an excellent alternative client called Orbot that allows you to quickly and easily connect to the TOR network. The application, of course, does not look so great, but it does its job reliably and is distributed free of charge on Google Play.

If you don't want to use third-party browsers, you can set up a VPN on your phone to secure all Internet traffic. This is a rather complex operation, which is more suitable for advanced users. A good option is a relatively simple application for iOS and Android that reliably creates a VPN connection. However, you can use it to transfer only 500 megabytes per month for free; you will have to pay extra for the rest.

But Windows Phone, unfortunately, does not yet support establishing VPN connections. They haven’t released it for the platform and private browsers, so users of Microsoft’s OS have nowhere to go for now.

Instead of an afterword

We live in an era of ongoing regulation of the Internet - the distribution of pirated content on the global network is being increasingly controlled, restrictions on access to certain information are being introduced, social networking sites are being blocked, and so on. However, for many years the Web has been the personification of the era of information freedom created by humanity, the highest achievement of civilization, which allows us to bring together all countries and nations in a single, albeit chaotic, information space.

Having become a global and universal phenomenon, the Internet has absorbed the norms and frameworks inherent in human society - this is, perhaps, a natural process. But fortunately for those who cannot live without digital freedom, TOR and VPN exist.

During the mass Internetization of the whole world, it is becoming increasingly difficult to hide your identity in Global network from other users. Some states introduce censorship in their national segment of the Internet, others are looking for ways to limit user rights, including freedom of speech. Even small companies can censor the Global Network by installing all kinds of filters on their employees’ access to the Internet, blocking social media, chats and everything that is not directly related to work. In Russia, recently there has also been a tendency to regulate our segment of the Network. Laws on online media are very controversial in interpretation and imply control of Internet portals over their readers. Ambiguous interpretation of existing laws, which little reflect reality, untrained personnel - all this allows you to quickly close resources only on one suspicion. You don’t have to look far for examples - this is an attempt to close the largest torrent resource torrents.ru (now rutracker.org), and the seizure of servers in data centers (blocking ifolder.ru), and much more. After the adoption of lobbied laws regarding copyright, copyright holders and “executors” of audio and video recording companies received the legal right to decide who is honest and who can be squeezed. The non-profit organization RAO alone spoils the lives of many pirates. But, alas, the measures taken by these companies often affect not the criminal elements who profit from sales and distribution of counterfeit products, but ordinary users, including the very authors and performers. In connection with this difficult situation, many popular Internet portals are discussing the transfer of servers from Russian zones.ru and.рф to foreign sites, where any organization does not have the opportunity to block a domain only on the basis of speculation. Many resources have already transferred their websites and domains to foreign hosting. As is known, the severity of Russian laws is compensated by the non-binding nature of their implementation, but in in this case this rule ceases to apply. Moreover, the higher the popularity of a news or social resource, the faster it can become part of the online media, where total control over users is gradually introduced.

In this article, we will not discuss the correctness of adopting certain laws and measures to regulate Internet activities, but will consider methods that ensure user anonymity on the Internet.

Access to prohibited sites

The first method is without installing additional software. Let's imagine that a user from a small company needs to remain incognito on the Internet. He is not an insider or a fan of “adult” films, he is simply sociable, and to lift his spirits and cheer up, he needs to communicate with friends and acquaintances. The head of the department strictly ordered the system administrator to block the sites vkontakte.ru, odnoklassniki.ru, twitter.com and all popular instant messaging services: icq, skype, mail.ru. The system administrator, without thinking twice, followed the path of least resistance: he created a rule for blocking the ports of these services and added blocked sites to the web filter. The user is shocked: his favorite website is not working, and he can’t tell his colleague about it. There is a fairly simple way out of this situation - using anonymous proxies.

There are quite a lot of proxy servers that make it possible to surf the Internet anonymously. However, the owner of the proxy server, since all traffic goes through his server, can steal passwords and any other confidential information, so you should not trust public services. By hiding from the boss, the user risks losing his data. In this case, it is better to use a paid proxy server or a trusted proxy of a friend.

However, many system administrators block not only certain sites and messaging services, but also the ports of well-known proxy servers. In this case, the user can only hope that the company has not blocked tunnel traffic. Then the unfortunate user can find several VPN servers and, by connecting to them, gain access to all Internet resources, including torrents, which are de facto blocked in most organizations. Here we cannot fail to note the fact that proxy server traffic packets, even through secure https connection to the server itself may be subject to interception on the side of the system administrator gateway. The use of tunnel connections, on the contrary, requires the use of a secure communication channel: IPSec, MPPE, etc. However, it is difficult to find a free VPN server that implements this feature. In general, if at home good channel connection with a dedicated direct IP address, then anyone can install a proxy server or l2tp/pptp by reading a few simple descriptions. In any case, the position of an office worker is unenviable, since System Administrator can strictly moderate its movement on the Global Network.

Anonymity of work on the network

To ensure anonymity on the Internet, there are specialized utilities, which allow users to log into an anonymous and mostly decentralized network. Typically, many of these networks are freely distributed programs with source code. Publishing open source has both pros and cons. For example, a plus is the free access of any programmer to the code, which allows you to quickly find problems and isolate insider code, if any. The downside is that hacking an existing network based on problematic code can lead to de-anonymization of clients on it. Hacking of anonymous networks is often carried out by intelligence services and other law enforcement agencies. For example, the hacking of a Japanese anonymous network made it possible to detain and convict several distributors of new film releases in HD quality. We will not judge the correctness of this method of combating “universal evil”. It's better to consider the most known systems to anonymize users on the Internet.

TOR

The TOR network is most suitable for users who do not exchange files on the Internet, but only want to surf it under a mask, hiding their real data. This network, which appeared relatively recently, quickly became popular. The prototype of the TOR system was created at the US Naval Research Laboratory under a federal contract. In 2002, this development was declassified, and the source codes were transferred to independent developers who created client software and published the source code under a free license. Let us remind you that this measure was taken so that everyone could check TOR for errors and backdoors. At the heart of the TOR network is a network of numerous clients connected to each other by virtual tunnels over the Internet. When a user requests a page on the Internet using this network, the request packet is encrypted and transmitted to multiple nodes on the network. In this case, the packet passes through a number of network clients and exits from the last of them to the requested site. Thus, none of the network users knows how many clients the packet passed through and who initiated the connection. Once every ten minutes, the chain of computers for the network client changes, which ensures greater network security. At the moment, the TOR network has about 2 thousand computer servers and several thousand clients. Since this network is still quite small, the connection speed is unstable and rarely exceeds 200 KB/s. However, it was originally conceived as an anonymity tool for working with web pages, and not for transmitting video content.

To access external network a set of programs is used that are included in the standard delivery of the TOR client. For platform Windows kit The package contains the TOR client, the Vidalia management program and the Polipo proxy server. The control program allows you to configure everything the most important parameters client (Fig. 1). The Polipo proxy server is a Socks server, so it is impossible to simply set it in the settings of any browser for the purpose of use. In most cases, TOR involves the use Mozilla browser Firefox, to which the Torbutton plugin can be installed, allowing you to allow or disable the use of the TOR network for this browser. For fine tuning other browsers or clients instant messages To work in the TOR network, you need to change the Polipo proxy server settings.

Rice. 1. Vidalia management program for the TOR network

Users who have no idea about the operation of proxy servers and other network components can download a special assembly from the official TOR website, which, in addition to the TOR client, includes the Firefox browser configured only to work on this network.

Recent studies of the TOR network have revealed its insufficient security. One of the users showed by his own example how personal data can be penetrated through the TOR network. He installed the TOR client on his computer in network server mode. This is allowed to all users and is even recommended by developers to increase overall network throughput. He then installed a packet sniffer on his computer, which allowed him to listen to the traffic of user packets passing through it. And then he successfully intercepted letters from those users who, having installed protection in the form of TOR, forgot to establish an encrypted connection to the mail server. Thus, when using the TOR network, do not forget about secure channels wherever possible.

In general, TOR technology allows you to work with the Internet in a fairly secure mode, but for its greater effectiveness, a powerful communication channel is required, since requests to the Internet pass through many other clients.

Freenet

The decentralized network Freenet is perhaps the most widely known anonymous network for sharing user data. It is built on the basis of a Java application, which establishes communication with other network participants through encrypted communication channels. Since Freenet is a decentralized peer-to-peer network, it will function as long as at least one of its clients is working. The Freenet network provides the most secure and anonymous connection. It stores and retrieves data using a key associated with it, similar to how it is implemented in HTTP protocol. During the development of Freenet, which began back in 2000, the emphasis was placed on the high survivability of the network with complete anonymity and decentralization of all internal processes in it. The network has no central servers and is not under the control of any users or organizations. Even the creators of Freenet do not have control over the entire system. The stored information is encrypted and distributed to all computers on the network around the world, which are anonymous, numerous and constantly exchanging information. Theoretically, it is very difficult to determine which participant stores specific file, since the contents of each file are encrypted and can be split into parts that are distributed among many computers. Even for a network participant, it takes considerable effort to find out exactly what information his computer stores. Since each user can set the boundaries of the space allocated for data exchange, this makes it difficult to determine the pieces of data that are stored on the user's computer. A file requested from the network is collected piece by piece from different users, since the basic principle of data transfer on this network is a modified torrent technology.

The Freenet network client is a console utility that is available for most modern operating systems. The only requirement is the presence of a virtual Java machines. After installing the network client, the user can work with network resources through any browser that connects to the user's local host. Since the network is completely anonymous and decentralized, the speed of data transfer and operation is very low. For higher performance, a larger number of network users are needed, who, due to their communication channels, are supposed to provide Freenet with high throughput. Currently, the speed of downloading information on this network rarely exceeds 100-200 KB/s. The network management interface is also based on the web console (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Freenet client management console

The Freenet network can be thought of as a huge, yet potentially unreliable, distributed storage device. When saving a file on this network, the user receives a key with which you can later get the saved information back. Upon presentation of the key, the network returns the saved file to the user, if it still exists and all parts of it are stored on accessible anonymous clients.

The main idea behind the Freenet is to prevent a group from imposing its beliefs and values ​​on others, since no one is allowed to decide what is acceptable. The network encourages tolerance of the values ​​of others, and in the absence of the latter, users are asked to turn a blind eye to content that contradicts their views.

I2P

I2P is an anonymous distributed network that uses a modified Kademlia DHT technology and stores hashed host addresses, AES-encrypted IP addresses, as well as public encryption keys, and connections between clients are also encrypted. Unlike the networks described above, I2P provides a simple transport mechanism for applications to anonymously and securely forward messages to each other.

Many of the I2P developers were previously involved in the IIP and Freenet projects. But, unlike these networks, I2P is an anonymous peer-to-peer distributed decentralized network in which users can work with any traditional network services and protocols, such as E-Mail, IRC, HTTP, Telnet, as well as with distributed applications such as databases , Squid and DNS. Unlike the Freenet network, the I2P network has its own directory of sites, electronic libraries and even torrent trackers. Every user can help the network and become a developer. In addition, there are gateways for accessing the I2P network directly from the Internet, created specifically for users who, for various reasons, cannot install software on their computer or whose provider blocks access to this network. The main feature of the network is the ability to function in harsh conditions, even under pressure from organizations with significant financial or political resources. The source code for network programs and protocols is publicly available, allowing users to verify that the software does exactly what it claims to do and makes it easier to third party developers the ability to improve network protection from persistent attempts to restrict free communication. It should be noted that the I2P network is similar in structure to the traditional Internet and differs from it only in the impossibility of censorship due to the use of encryption and anonymization mechanisms. This attracts users who are interested in innovation and a sophisticated interface. The undoubted advantage of I2P is that third parties cannot find out what the user is viewing, what sites he visits, what information he downloads, what his range of interests, acquaintances are, etc.

Compared to the Internet, I2P does not have any central and familiar DNS servers, and the network does not depend on external DNS servers, which makes it impossible to destroy, block and filter sections of the network. Ideally, such a network will exist and function as long as there are at least two computers on the network left on the planet. The absence of explicit DNS servers does not mean that you cannot create your own page. DHT Kademlia - a name distribution mechanism in the I2P network - allows any users of the I2P network to create their own sites, projects, torrent trackers, etc. without having to register anywhere, pay for a DNS name or pay for any services. Moreover, each user can create any website absolutely free and free, and it is almost impossible to find out its location, as well as the location of the server.

With each new user, the reliability, anonymity and speed of the I2P network as a whole increases. In order to get into the I2P network, you just need to install a client on your computer, which is a router program that will decrypt/encrypt all traffic and redirect it to the I2P network. In most cases, there is no need to configure the router program - by default, it is already configured optimally, and its interface is completely translated into Russian (Fig. 3). When accessing a site or other resource on the regular (external) Internet, the router program automatically, like TOR, builds a tunnel to one of the external gateways and makes it possible to anonymously visit and use external Internet resources.

Rice. 3. I2P network client management console

conclusions

To ensure anonymity on the Global Network, you can use many in various ways. In most cases, programs and virtual networks that allow you to achieve one degree or another of anonymity on the Internet are free and publicly available. Each user can choose the optimal program or network for access to both external and internal resources. However, the higher the security of the technology used, the lower its speed and accessibility for understanding the principles of its operation. For example, if the TOR network is quite transparent for most users, then understanding the settings and operating principle of the Freenet network is already difficult for the average user. And although freedom of speech and anonymity are welcomed by most users, there is also back side medals - distribution of counterfeit materials, prohibited content such as child pornography, etc. Alas, this leaves an imprint on everything anonymous networks, because most users have a negative attitude towards such materials, but complete freedom presupposes precisely this state of affairs.

Publication date: 10/01/2015

As information leaks from intelligence agencies in the form of the same Edward Snowden show, states, and not only the United States, monitor citizens and do so very actively. In addition, various kinds of hackers can spy on you in order to steal money from your accounts or confidential information. And the higher the position you hold or the more money you spend, the more relevant the issue of information protection and anonymous surfing on the Internet becomes for you. In this tip, we’ll talk about the most common ways to maintain anonymity on the Internet, and, consequently, protect your information and information about you and your activities.

To begin with, let's decide who needs anonymity and protection, and who needs the most basic security standards - have a working antivirus on their computer, don't visit dubious sites, don't download everything. For most people this is enough. Believe me, no intelligence services or hackers are interested in your correspondence discussing the crops at your summer cottage or gossip about your school friends. No hackers will be interested in you if you don't implement banking transactions via the Internet and do not have electronic money accounts.

On the contrary, serious protection and anonymity on the Internet is vital for politicians, scientists, businessmen, public figures, any public figures. We won’t even talk about hackers and terrorists - people don’t read such advice - they can teach anyone they want about issues of anonymity and security.

Anonymity will also not hurt people who are building a successful career or at least planning activities in politics, business, or international relations. “Pranks” on the Internet, which today may seem completely innocent to you, in 5 or 10 years, collected and archived somewhere for the time being, can put an end to your career or reputation.

Or you just wrote something unpleasant about the President of the United States on some social network, and six months later you went to get an American visa... You won’t even know why you were rejected, but they can easily refuse - the Internet, no matter how huge it may seem, is actually not so huge, but thanks to modern technologies, search for information about specific person and all his steps and statements take a matter of seconds.
In addition, there are quite a few people obsessed with conspiracy theories and security for security's sake. Welcome to the squad of stealth users!

Where does safety begin?

And it starts with what you write about yourself and post on the Internet. After all, it is so popular and fashionable: Odnoklassniki, VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram, Foursquare... We ourselves post on the Internet every day the most detailed information about ourselves, equipped with photographs and geotags, using which we can be tracked not only by the almighty intelligence services, but literally by any interested elementary school student classes!

If you want people to know nothing about you, stop shooting yourself down! Do not create or delete accounts on social networks, or at least do not check in, do not write anything about yourself and your passions, movements, meetings. Do not post posts with caustic criticism or curses against significant political figures in your country and the world, as well as your immediate superiors or even competitors. Who knows how your life will turn out? Perhaps tomorrow or the day after tomorrow you will decide to emigrate to a country whose leader you so actively hate today or get a job at a competing company?

In addition, you should not write comments to articles in online publications, on forums or participate in public chats. Even if you write them without registration under the pseudonym “anonymous”, your IP address is determined and remains in the sites database. If you want to identify any anonymous author of a comment, it will not be difficult for an average professional, not to mention more serious people and organizations.

Get yourself one (or better yet, not one, but several) e-mail addresses, which you will indicate when registering on various Internet resources, and also leave as contact addresses in online stores and other public Internet places. In any case, leaving your main and only e-mail address in such places is not a very smart thing - at a minimum, this address will be covered with spam, the amount of which will increase exponentially every month, at most, everyone will know about you - where you are registered, what you buy, when and what services you use. Knowing the address, it is not so difficult to generally read all your correspondence, intercepting your traffic, especially if this correspondence contains some secrets or is of other interest to Internet surveillance professionals.

Therefore, keep your main address secret, confiding it only to your closest friends and business partners with whom you do business or discuss serious matters. It is better that it is registered in a country other than the one in which you live - it will be even more difficult to track it.

And for some purposes, you can use completely anonymous email services, like the service. Save the link - it will come in handy.

These are the basics of safety. But you can go further and deeper. I will not describe in detail the details of the methods here - each of them requires a separate article (if you wish, you can find and read the details on other sites), I will only list them with a brief description:

• Use anonymous web surfing using browser settings. Now almost all browsers have a “private browsing” or “incognito mode” function and therefore this is the easiest way. It does not provide complete anonymity, but it still increases the degree of your security and anonymity; at a minimum, there will be no traces of your web surfing left on your computer. In this mode, the browser deletes cookies and temporary files immediately after the session ends, and does not save form data (logins and passwords), as well as browsing history.
• Use for web surfing anonymous proxy servers. This makes browsing the pages less comfortable - some popular resources, such as yandex.ru will not let you in at all. On the other hand, you will have the opportunity to use services and access sites that for one reason or another are blocked in your country or by the administration of your corporate network.
• enjoy anonymizers- programs or web services that work on the principle of an anonymous proxy server, but with a greater degree of anonymity. Disadvantages of this method: a noticeable decrease in the speed of browsing web pages and the payment of the main and highest quality anonymizers. Pros: high degree of anonymity on the Internet.
• Master and use VPN (Virtual Private Network)- a technology that allows you to create an encrypted channel between the user and the network, protecting all your Internet traffic from eavesdropping, as well as hiding your IP address. The easiest way to use a VPN is to install a browser extension Google Chrome called ZenMate. But the simplest is not always the most reliable, therefore, if the issue of security is very important to you, I would recommend studying the issue thoroughly and using not the simplest, but more reliable methods of this technology.
• TOR technology. This private network routers, created specifically to ensure the anonymity and security of Internet users. To use this network, it is enough to install a special TOR-based assembly of one of the popular browsers- Firefox or Opera. But remember: you will provide yourself with almost 100% anonymity, but you will get a lot of inconvenience: you won’t be able to view popular social networks, you won’t even be able to watch videos! Whether you need such anonymity or not is up to you to decide!

But that's all about anonymity and security when surfing the web from a computer. But there is still mobile internet surfing! This is when you access the Internet from a smartphone or tablet. And here everything is even more deplorable. Because about safe work on a computer we still sometimes remember, but in the case of a smartphone we forget about it completely! Either because it seems to us that we are moving with it in space, and therefore it is more difficult to “detect” us, or surfing from a smartphone does not seem to us something serious.

Meanwhile, there are even special models of “anti-spy smartphones”. For example, last year the Boeing company released a super-protected one (and if you try to disassemble it, it self-destructs!) specifically for employees of American government agencies. Some American government officials know firsthand about Internet surveillance! It’s one thing to spy on others, but it’s another thing entirely when they’re spying on you, who would want that! :)

And the other day the anti-spy smartphone Blackphone 2 went on sale (again, so far only in the USA, but with a fair amount of desire, Russian citizens can also buy it). It runs the Silent OS operating system, which is based on Android, but is cleared of any junk and tracking software.

But most importantly, it has built-in encryption modules for all incoming and outgoing information - calls, SMS, messages in online messengers, photos and much more. There's even protection when connecting to public wireless networks. If you are already concerned about your security and anonymity on the Internet, I would highly recommend that you switch to a similar smartphone in the mobile sphere, or not go online from your smartphone at all - there are much fewer possibilities for maintaining anonymity without special devices!

Summary. States, under the guise of fighting terrorism, crime and anarchy, are increasingly invading what was once absolutely free space Internet, trying to control and strictly regulate it and the issue of security and anonymity is becoming more and more relevant. If this continues, perhaps soon anonymity on the Internet will become completely impossible. In the meantime, it is possible to disguise or even completely hide the traces of your presence on the Internet, and in some cases it is very necessary, and for completely law-abiding citizens - simply for reasons of their own safety. So let's use it while we can.

Good luck to you in this not difficult, but not very simple matter!

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From month to month, topics pop up on underground forums - how to create maximum anonymity for yourself and become invulnerable, will VPN and pulled socks be enough, etc. heresy, which has become boring and which is already answered with memorized phrases like - They will find it if they want, there is no such thing as 100%.

We take shovels and stretchers.

No matter how sad it is to say this, we will still need a VPN, you can buy it, steal it, give birth to it, in short, how to get it is up to you. I wouldn’t bet on free ones, if you really don’t have any money, buy from kebrum, there are only 5-6 bucks per month tariffs, there are no restrictions, and there is a demo mode, if you don’t download torrents you can work in demo mode, it’s a no-brainer . Okay, somehow you got hold of the VPN, what next?

And then YES-YES-YES, that same TOR, download, install, everything works out of the box, although out of the box if you use Windows, you will have to fuck around a little under Linux, but your efforts will be rewarded, I personally built everything on Ubuntu 12, at first I spat, but now it’s just fucked up, I’ve got an erection. In general, the TOR that comes in the box has the same brake, so you need to configure it correctly, with this config, your TOR will fly faster than an airplane + countries that we don’t need will be excluded, that is, we will never get a Russian IP address as an option and we will constantly exit through American nodes, of course we will mow down under the Amer.

TOR Config

You can easily find out how and where to push it on Google.

ControlPort 9051 DirPort 9030 DirReqStatistics 0 ExitNodes (US) StrictExitNodes 1 ExcludeNodes (RU), (UA), (BY), (LV), (LD), (MT), (GE), (SU) ExitPolicy reject * : * Log notice stdout Nickname R1 ORPort 3055 RelayBandwidthBurst 10485760 RelayBandwidthRate 5242880 SocksListenAddress 127.0.0.1 StrictNodes 1

What we have is that we select Exit nodes only from the USA by explicitly specifying (US), all intermediate and input nodes will change by country except these: (RU),(UA),(BY),(LV),(LD),( MT),(GE),(SU), this list of countries was compiled by experienced carders, perhaps some other countries should be added to the list, if you know which ones, be sure to share. We don’t pay attention to all other values; if you want, you can read about each parameter separately on TOR’s offsite, provided that you know English language or using the translator from the giant.

This means that we have configured TOR, acquired a VPN, and the foundation is ready. As we know, all traffic on the Exit node in the tor is transparent and can easily be intercepted by an attacker, but we will not leave the bad guys a single chance. Let's build an SSH tunnel over this entire foundation. That is, this is what we get:

1. We connect to the network via VPN, accordingly we become an American, the IP changes to American (you can build your own chains and, if you wish, configure them as you like, the countries can be any).
2. Next, we launch our configured TOR; accordingly, TOR will work through the VPN channel we previously connected.
3. We stretch an SSH tunnel proxied through the TOR network on top of everything available.
4. At the output we have the IP address of the SSH tunnel. And encrypted traffic goes through the Exit node and not a single bad guy will decrypt it and burn your secrets.
5. PROFIT!

We have already discussed the first two points, I think everyone understands everything. But let's take a closer look at stretching the tunnel. Since I have Ubuntu (for these things I recommend Linux, because the SSH tunnel under the windows is fucking unstable, you’ll spit), I’ll tell you how to do all this on Nix systems. In order to create an SSH tunnel, we need to have an SSH shell on some server, I won’t tell you how to do this, you can again - buy, steal, give birth. In short, roughly speaking, we bought an SSH shell on an American server, what next, and then we need to build another wall. In the console we write the command:

sudo proxychains ssh –D 127.0.0.1 : 8181 username @ 142.98.11.21

The proxychains command means that we run ssh through our local TOR server on port 9050 (roughly speaking, we proxy our tunnel), then comes the –D parameter, which creates a socket on port 8181, and then the SSH server address itself, where first the login goes, and then through the dog itself is the IP address of the server. We press enter and see this bullshit:

| S-chain | -< > - 127.0.0.1 : 9050 - & lt ; > < > - 142.98.11.21 - & lt ; > < > - OK

If you see OK, then screw it, we connected to the server via the TOR network, then enter the password, press enter again and minimize the console, meanwhile on the local host 127.0.0.1 on port 8181 we have a socket hanging, through which we will now access Internet.
There are so many letters, I hope everyone understands everything, although this is a confusing topic, but there is no other way to do it this operation will not work. Over time, get used to it and in a minute, you’ll be creating incredibly cool channels for yourself.

How will we be caught?

Let’s say you stole a million money and they announced a reward for your ass. Accordingly, I start looking for you. Let's look at how the chain will unwind.

1. Since the final IP address of the SSH shell, don’t feed it bread, all efforts will be thrown there.
2. Since our SSH shell goes through the TOR network, the chain changes accordingly every 10 minutes, Exit nodes, middle servers and incoming nodes change. It’s a hell of a mess here, I personally can’t even imagine how it will be possible to find anything in all this fucking. Our traffic is encrypted on all nodes, sniffing an Exit node will also not work, TOR chains can even be built across the whole world. So this is some kind of unreal, even if they find an Exit node, then they will have to look for a middle server. And all this requires funds, connections and a lot of other things, not every office will do this, it’s easier to forget.
3. Let's assume that a miracle happened, the TOR network let us down and told us our IP address to the VPN. Well, what can I say - it all depends on the VPN server, administration, weather conditions and many more factors. It depends on your luck, either the VPN will hand over all your logs or not.
4. Even if they determined your real IP address, they found out your country and city. This doesn't mean anything yet. Nobody canceled the left sim cards, the neighbor's Wi-Fi. Well, this is completely for paranoids like Bin Laden, according to some sources, his security was built exactly in the way that I am describing to you, although this is again a dead telephone. If you want to do it well, do it yourself! You can reinforce your invulnerability with the thought that if they want to find you, then they will need very good finances, because just imagine what an operative will have to do, at least to get logs from an SSH server, not to mention the TOR network.
5. IN in this example I’m not considering the i2p network, this is shit about nothing at all, firstly, you will never get real speed from it, secondly, you won’t be able to log in to any site, because i2p is not friendly with cookies at all, thirdly, the output will be permanently German IP address. These are the main points that make you want to send i2p to a big juicy dick.

Safe surfing or digging in

You and I have successfully built 50 percent of our fortress, but it’s better to spend one day on all this, but then in a few minutes bring the system into complete deflation. But what is this fortress to us if we inherit? Let's make it more difficult and set our browser to be completely fucked up. That is, we will not allow our browser to give us away completely. Of all the browsers available in the world, only Firefox can be successfully customized, and that is what we will choose. To do this, download the latest portable version, Google to help, unpack and launch.

This will allow us to disable all unnecessary crap that can burn us, like Java, Flash, etc. unknown shit. Next we install the following plugins:

You don’t need to install a screenshot, page hacker and hackbar, it’s not for everyone, everything else should be required. Next, we set the checkboxes as in this screenshot, this will not allow us to burn cookies, that is, after closing the browser, all cookies will be deleted and will not appear in future problems if you accidentally forgot to build anonymous tunnels.

about< b > < / b >:config

and look for the line geo.enable - set this value to false, this will allow us not to tie the browser to our location. So, we’ve sorted out the basic settings, now let’s configure the installed plugins.

NoScript

First of all, we set up NoScript, you don’t need any special intelligence there, just check the box – Deny all JavaScript and that’s it, although I still dug around and turned off all unnecessary notifications. Please note that when NoScript is enabled, some sites that contain Java scripts will not work for you; one way or another, sometimes you will still have to disable this plugin, because there is no way, or use mobile versions site. With the plugin disabled, we will burn a lot of data about ourselves, for example, browser version, screen resolution, color depth, language, operating system and much more, including your real IP address. So, it’s either all or nothing!

ModifyHeader

With this wonderful plugin, we will filter some of the transmitted headers, not all of them, of course, but only those that can be filtered, look at the picture and repeat after me.

Once finished, click on the face with the inscription Start, the plugin will be activated and will filter headings that we do not like. Let's move on.

FoxyProxy

This plugin allows us to easily switch between proxies, for example, you want to access the Internet bypassing the ssh tunnel, or vice versa, use the entire existing chain, or you only need TOR, there are many examples. Let's create the following diagram:

I have only 3 points here: work through TOR, work through a tunnel and direct traffic without any proxies.

Work via TOR is configured as follows: 127.0.0.1 port 9050 + you need to check the box in Socks5
Working through a tunnel, set 127.0.0.1 port 8181 (we specified this port when creating the ssh tunnel, you can choose any other), and also check the box for Socks5. We save and close everything.

In the first case, we will be able to access the Internet through a VPN, and then launch the browser through the TOR network; accordingly, our traffic will not be encrypted on the Exit node.

In the second case, all our traffic goes through a VPN, then we proxy the ssh tunnel through the TOR network, at the output we receive encrypted traffic and the IP address of the ssh server we have chosen.

In the third case, we completely disable all proxification and go online with the IP address of our VPN server.

This whole thing can be easily and conveniently switched with the mouse and you should not have any difficulties.

We are done manipulating with plugins, I hope I have conveyed to you the basics of all this junk, but if you don’t understand something, ask in the comments. In principle, we made ourselves a secure browser. Now we can surf the Internet and not be afraid that we can be identified by some signs, in fact, we disguised ourselves as an ordinary ordinary American, nothing gives us away. Here is the report itself, how we look to others:

Conclusions e

In this article, I introduced you to the possible concept of anonymity on the Internet. In my opinion, this is the optimal scheme, of course you can add DoubleVPN, Socks and three more boxes to this entire chain, but the speed will not be the same, it all depends on desire and degree of paranoia. I described all the pros and cons of the scheme above, I hope you liked it and it gave you some good thoughts.

Cookies and strategy

In addition to all this, I want to remind you that you should not forget about other precautions, for example, installing an English-language operating system, use virtual machines for menial matters, change the Macaddresses to network cards, encrypt hard disks, with each new connection, be sure to check your IP address on specialized resources, that is, connected a VPN - checked the IP address, connected TOR, checked again, and so on, as usual, there are situations when the VPN seems to have risen, but the IP has not changed, here and burned, so we definitely take into account all the little things, it’s better to check it a hundred times than to regret it for a hundred years later. Also, when making transactions, do not use ICQ, exclusively jabber and exclusively connect it through created tunnels; in extreme cases, you can get by with just TOR. Store all the money you earn online in LR or in YaD, then buy Bitcoin with it, and then all funds are withdrawn anonymously in any convenient way. After each transaction, change your Bitcoin wallet (it’s done in a couple of clicks), then pour all your funds into one that doesn’t appear anywhere. Don’t forget to proxy all the applications we work with, you can generally configure the entire system so that absolutely all programs will access the Internet through your tunnels, again, I’ll direct you to Google, there’s plenty of information about this. If Windows is overly important to you and you can’t or can’t stand Nix similar systems, then the same can be done under the windows, but believe me that there will be more hemorrhoids and stability will drop significantly, so be patient and study Linux if you have already chosen the dark side. With this I hasten to say goodbye to you! If anything is not clear, ask, I’ll clear it up! Bye bye!

All the information I have provided in this topic is given for informational purposes only and is not a call to action, all responsibility lies on your shoulders.

Upd:

Another one has been discovered in Firefox interesting thing, I'm telling you!

Enter into the address bar of the browser: about:config
We are looking for the parameter: network.proxy.socks_remote_dns
We post it in: true

The browser is now configured to use the DNS servers of the SSH tunnel itself. For example, if you go to whoer.net with similar settings browser, you will see the DNS server of the country of the SSH tunnel, and not the DNS of your ISP or the OpenVPN server through which you access the Internet.

Last updated by at July 2, 2015.

01/29/17 3.9K

In this article we will talk about all aspects related to anonymity on the Internet so you can maintain your privacy while browsing the Internet:

We're not saying that you can become completely anonymous, that's practically impossible. But what we can actually do is try to make online interactions more hidden.

Stay incognito

Private browsing mode or incognito mode is a feature that is the second most popular browsing option in browsers. It is quite suitable for those cases when you access the Internet from someone else's computer and want to check your Facebook, Twitter or email accounts.

Likewise, it is ideal for testing sites that are heavily loaded with cookies. And also for those cases when the computer you are working on has public access.

Private browsing does not completely erase your fingerprints. Certain items, such as DNS lookups and some cookies, may remain after the session. So it's better to consider programs for anonymity on the Internet as a temporary measure. The main thing I want to draw your attention to is do not save your browsing history on a public computer.

If you want an optimal example, then open a private browsing session and browse a few sites, then exit the session, go to the command line and enter the following:

Ipconfig/displaydns and press Enter.

This will be a list of all cached DNS entries visited from your computer, regardless of whether you used a private browsing session or not.

To delete entries, enter the following command:

Ipconfig/flushdns and press Enter.

This will clear the list and prevent any attempts to access it. It is also advisable to set up a batch file that will launch the browser in private browsing mode and automatically clear it when closed DNS records. This method can be used to maintain a certain level of privacy.

False identity

Using a fake identity sounds more intriguing than it actually is, but in many cases it is quite effective for achieving anonymity on the Internet:

Consider this example: you use your email address to log into Facebook, Twitter, eBay and online games. This may seem quite reasonable, but for the hacker the task is now much easier. He only needs to hack one account or track you. But if you had many aliases, it would take a hacker much more time and effort to track down all the fake identities and identify the real user.

It's a simple concept, but it can be used to great effect to disguise your online activity. There have been cases of people using over fifty fake names and email addresses to log into websites to avoid identifying their real identity.

There are few reasons to provide your real identity online. Most sites only collect and sell your information, or use it for advertising purposes, so never provide your real email address, home address or contact information on public sites:

If using fake identities is a hassle and you need something like a fake identity generator, you'll find it here.

How to maintain anonymity on the Internet? This site can completely create a fake identity with names, addresses, email addresses and phone numbers. He may even provide you with a number of fake credit cards, mother's maiden name, vehicle, blood type, height, weight and QR code, which can be used on not very reliable sites. It is obvious that all data provided is fake and any resemblance to real person is random.

The fake name generator also creates a fake email address that is working and you can use it to receive one-time email verification links. However, you cannot be sure who is also using this service. Nobody knows who else has access to this system. So it's better to think of it as a tool for generating email addresses that can be used to fill out various online forms.

Tools that help you stay invisible

There are a number of programs that can be used to hide your activities, erase your digital fingerprints, or remain invisible on the Internet. The most famous of them is the Tor Network. But those who require a higher level of encryption and anonymity may want to consider using a VPN ( Virtual Private Network).

Tor Network

Tor is program for anonymity on the Internet in Russian, through which your online connections are passed through connected networks, each of which is owned by volunteers from around the world. The essence of this concept is to block the ability to track a user and find out his location, and give you the opportunity to visit blocked sites:

Tor Browser Bundle is a free package for Windows, Mac and Linux that, when launched, automatically connects you to the Tor Network and also launches a specially designed and modified version of Firefox.

Once the package is launched, when you start browsing sites through Tor, all content you connect to is transferred encrypted and passed through the network system mentioned above. Tor Browser Bundle works effectively with any TCP instant messaging, remote login, and other browser applications. However, this product does not guarantee 100% anonymity and should not be used to download illegal music or movies. This may cause overload in Tor networks and cause problems for users who use the package for proper purposes.

The protocols used by P2P sites can often be used to scan an IP address, and will allow you to figure out your actual IP address, not the one generated by Tor.

However, Tor is a great product that you can use to stay anonymous. Built-in version of Firefox, based on the Extended Support Release ( ESR) Firefox by Mozilla, specially modified to optimize security and privacy features. To achieve this, access to the Components.interfaces element, which can be used to identify the user's computer platform, was blocked. With the exception of some Flash add-ons, caching of SSL sessions is prohibited and DNS information leakage via WebSockets is blocked.

By using the Tor Browser Bundle, you will be relatively protected from online snooping ( except for the most cunning attackers). Although ensure complete anonymity on the Internet you won't be able to:

If you look at the above screenshot, you will see that by navigating through Tor, your IP address is hidden. This is achieved by disabling JavaScript. In addition, the modified version of the browser successfully blocked the scripts necessary to collect information about your system.

If you'd like to try the Tor Browser Bundle and see how well it does at hiding your digital fingerprints, head over to the Tor website where you can download the bundle itself. And also get more information about how Tor helps you achieve anonymity and security when working on the Internet.

HMA VPN

This is an impressive VPN service from the UK that allows the user to hide their IP addresses, unblock some sites, geo-restricted channels and anonymously visit sites through one of the company's over 50 thousand private and anonymous IP addresses:

HMA's 934 VPN servers are located in 190 countries, using OpenVPN, PPTP and L2TP protocols. It is useful and easy to use software. All you have to do is sign up for one of the plans: £7.99 per month for one month, £5.99 per month for six months or £4.99 per month for a year. After this, you need to install the software, enter your username and password and connect to the service.

All the hard work and configuration VPN for online anonymity Internet is provided automatically. In addition, a special built-in function “ Speed ​​Guide" will automatically select the fastest VPN server based on your current location and connections.

The software is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. After you have registered an account and paid for the selected tariff plan, you can download the necessary software through the HMA control panel:

The VPN software manager includes some interesting features, one of which is a review of connection speed. You can also choose which VPN protocol you want to use. One of the most popular and fastest protocols is OpenVPN. In addition, you can set the parameters to change the IP address randomly every few minutes.

The program contains convenient function « Secure IP Bind", which prevents applications from connecting to the Internet when HMA VPN is not running. You can choose your own country-specific VPN server and adjust the load ratio to connect to the VPN server with the fewest users and get more resources at your disposal.

CyberGhost

VPN, which is rightfully considered one of the best methods of anonymity on the Internet. CyberGhost 5.5 was recently introduced, which includes a number of additional benefits, available in a paid package. Hiding your IP address and encrypting your connection is the norm for the CyberGhost team, but they feel they can do even more for you:

New features include Ad-Blocker, malware and virus protection, data compression, tracking prevention, force HTTPS functionality, and access through the fastest servers.

The data compression feature increases the speed of your mobile connection, and also identifies and actively removes any content that helps collect information about the resources you visit.

Forced transition to HTTPS is useful function which many VPNs don't implement. By forcing a secure connection, you increase security of your work on the Internet and reduce the risk of your data being stolen:

In addition to new features, CyberGhost 5.5 features faster and more user-friendly interface. Connections to servers located outside the UK are faster and overall download speeds are faster. The service also provides handy graphs that show how many cases of blocking, tracking, and forced switching to HTTPS occurred while using CyberGhost.

For more information about how to maintain anonymity on the Internet and the cost of various plans, visit the CyberGhost website.

Browser Add-ons

If reducing traffic isn't a big concern for you and you're only concerned about snooping, then use one of the many free add-ons available for IE, Chrome, and Firefox.

They can help block certain scripts and pop-ups, as well as identify elements that track your location.

DoNotTrackMe/Blur

Recently released, but already widely known, improved version of DoNotTrackPlus. Compared to previous versions, over 300 advertising platforms have been added to its blacklist, as well as more than 650 tracking technologies:

The add-on is available for Chrome, IE, Safari and Firefox. Once you install the extension and restart your browser, the DNTMe icon will appear in your toolbar and DoNotTrackMe will begin logging attempts to track your activity.

DNTMe works great in parallel with already installed add-ons. Your browsing experience will not be slowed down, and you will see the same content as before, except for some of the ad elements that are being tracked. You will receive information about the number of attempts made and blocked.

Adblock Plus

Another free add-on for IE, Chrome and Firefox. It is considered one of the best for ensuring anonymity on the Internet, blocks phishing and tracking, and protects you from malware and unwanted advertising:

You can add ready-made filters or use custom ones. But be careful when using unknown filter lists, as they may miss something important.

NoScript

Extension for Firefox, Seamonkey and other browsers from Mozilla. It is a free and open source package and blocks all JavaScript, Java, Flash and other unsafe plugins unless they are trusted. NoScript can be installed either through the repository Firefox add-ons, or directly from the NoScript website:

NoScript does an excellent job of hiding information about your location and activity from scripts that request such data. The extension hides your digital " fingerprints» from the vast majority of sites on the Internet and provides decent level of anonymity and confidentiality.

Conclusion

Nowadays it is impossible to get complete anonymity on the Internet. This will require a secure VPN server, a variety of browser-based blocking methods, and special operating system configuration.

However, by using one or a combination of several of the tools, packages and methods listed above, you can significantly increase your chances of remaining anonymous and out of sight of attackers tracking the activities of other people. In addition, you will protect yourself from a huge number of viruses, malware and spyware.

This publication is a translation of the article “ How to become anonymous online", prepared by the friendly project team

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