Trying tor

What is tor

Please read about it on torproject.org, it is a system to stay anonymous on the web.

Why I wanted to use it

After installing a new system, due to the installation of a new SSD in my computer (which improved boot time quite a bit).

I thought I would try to setup some hidden service to be able to remote into my laptop. This is done by proxying SSH through tor, and doesn't require to set some dyn dns. I had seen a tor conferrence of someone who got his computer back after it being stoleni because there was dyn dns setup on it. It's a classic DEF CON 18 - Zoz - Pwned By The Owner, which is worth your 20 minutes, simply glorious.

How terribly hard is it to setup

Install tor through your package manager. 2 lines to un-comment in /etc/tor/torrc around the HiddenService section, and run sudo systemctl restart tor.service. You find your address in the hostname file where you setup your service.

And then setup SSH, either the one liner : ssh -o ProxyCommand='nc -x localhost:9050 %h %p' something.onion, or setup something in your ~/.ssh/config like :

Host laptop
    Hostname something.onion
    ProxyCommand /usr/bin/nc -x localhost:9050 %h %p

I want to see now if I can setup irc, and mail and everything through tor. It's so easy I couldn't believe.

This site

So yes obviously I've setup this website on tor !

http://ulduvn2a3g4fsll7kkt4l6kmxk4nnjnngmvjit5xbsimf4y4kjdbi5yd.onion

Obviously you need tor to access it, you should probably use tor browser or even better tails. Else with torify curl $addr.

(P.S. : I am not good at keeping things alive, so this service may not be up forever)