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Clickbait? Its not "VPN providers" its "VPN provider software", I never even thought of using their software, most just give you the credentials for OpenVPN/IPS

Clickbait? Its not "VPN providers" its "VPN provider software", I never even thought of using their software, most just give you the credentials for OpenVPN/IPSEC/PPTP or similar. Also if anonymity is of "real" concern you should never use a system that knows your real IP address in the first place. Instead create the vpn tunnel on a separate host system and run something like Tails in a VM (or better yet separate physical hardware).

3pt14159 9y ago
That tunnel won't help against real adversaries. Timing attacks and text content analysis will expose you. It's getting harder to be truly black online.
- bringtheaction 9y ago
  > text content analysis The solution to that is to use memes and bad grammar. I am not kidding. Keep your messages really brief and have a community of people that talk in a very similar fashion to one-another.
  - pen2l 9y ago
    I think is how the birth of leetspeak came about, no? And why still a lot of "read me" files for pirated software use poor grammar. Another option is to use translation services, en->fr->ja->de->en. Reread message -- does it say what you mean? If yes, go for it! If not, modify as needed.
    - kardos 9y ago
      Surely you mean an offline translation program, and not an online translation service like google's translator...
      - solarkraft 9y ago
        Oh, Google translate can mess up. There are also intentionally bad translators like https://lingojam.com/BadTranslator https://lingojam.com/BadTranslator
        icebraining 9y ago
        I think the point is that the translation service logs will sell you out.
  - lawl 9y ago
    I think reading TheShadowBrokers posts[0] is really interesting. Because they use really bad english. But it's consistent within one piece of text, but not always over multiple texts. The only reason i can imagine they're writig this way is to foil stylometry. [0] https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/response-to-response-to-doxing https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/response...
fauigerzigerk 9y ago
>Its not "VPN providers" its "VPN provider software" OpenVPN leaks DNS on every default Ubuntu installation I have tried. But I think it's actually Ubuntu NetworkManager's fault. The WebRTC leaks discussed in this article are not prevented by OpenVPN either (last time I checked, which was a while ago). You have to disable WebRTC in the browser.
- mahkoh 9y ago
  >You have to disable WebRTC in the browser Incorrect. An easy and foolproof way of using VPNs is with network namespaces. You start the VPN in your init network namespace and then move the created device into a dedicated VPN namespace. OpenVPN has support for this because it allows you to execute a shell script after the VPN device has been created. Then you simply start your browser, torrent client, whatever in this namespace and you are completely safe: 1. If the VPN fails, then the only network device inside the network namespace disappears (modulo the lo device) and the programs in this namespace cannot use the internet. 2. Since the browser can only see the devices within the network namespace, the only IP it can see is the one assigned to you by your VPN provider (usually 10.x.y.z or similar.) DNS leaks can be prevented by using a generic DNS provider such as 8.8.8.8.
  - fauigerzigerk 9y ago
    >DNS leaks can be prevented by using a generic DNS provider such as 8.8.8.8 You mean leaking to Google doesn't count as leaking? Your namespaces suggestion is interesting, but easy and foolproof?
    - the8472 9y ago
      You can run a DNS resolver in the network namespace that forwards¹ to google DNS through the VPN. ¹ Or run your own recursive resolver
      - fauigerzigerk 9y ago
        VPNs do exactly that when they are not broken. Ubuntu is broken and dangerously so.
lr4444lr 9y ago
I can appreciate the use of Tails in a VM, but doesn't the provider of the "separate host system" have your identity through your payment information?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- roywiggins 9y ago
  Running Tails in a VM is so your browser can't leak your real IP to the wider internet even if it wants to, because it doesn't know what it is. Your VM provider still knows your real IP address.
  - dublinben 9y ago
    This is essentially the philosophy behind Whonix. https://www.whonix.org/ https://www.whonix.org/
mandelbulb 9y ago
>Clickbait? Partially. Obviously, self-marketing was the motivation for this test. However, it is still a helpful reference. If your provider doesn't even release a properly configured VPN client, you might want to reflect on whether to rely on the rest of their infrastructure. >Also if anonymity is of "real" concern You're digressing. Whatever a user wishes to anonymize their information for can be a valid concern but that does not necessarily require absolute anonymity.

3pt14159 9y ago

That tunnel won't help against real adversaries. Timing attacks and text content analysis will expose you. It's getting harder to be truly black online.

bringtheaction 9y ago
> text content analysis The solution to that is to use memes and bad grammar. I am not kidding. Keep your messages really brief and have a community of people that talk in a very similar fashion to one-another.
- pen2l 9y ago
  I think is how the birth of leetspeak came about, no? And why still a lot of "read me" files for pirated software use poor grammar. Another option is to use translation services, en->fr->ja->de->en. Reread message -- does it say what you mean? If yes, go for it! If not, modify as needed.
  - kardos 9y ago
    Surely you mean an offline translation program, and not an online translation service like google's translator...
    - solarkraft 9y ago
      Oh, Google translate can mess up. There are also intentionally bad translators like https://lingojam.com/BadTranslator https://lingojam.com/BadTranslator
      - icebraining 9y ago
        I think the point is that the translation service logs will sell you out.
- lawl 9y ago
  I think reading TheShadowBrokers posts[0] is really interesting. Because they use really bad english. But it's consistent within one piece of text, but not always over multiple texts. The only reason i can imagine they're writig this way is to foil stylometry. [0] https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/response-to-response-to-doxing https://steemit.com/shadowbrokers/@theshadowbrokers/response...

fauigerzigerk 9y ago

>Its not "VPN providers" its "VPN provider software" OpenVPN leaks DNS on every default Ubuntu installation I have tried. But I think it's actually Ubuntu NetworkManager's fault. The WebRTC leaks discussed in this article are not prevented by OpenVPN either (last time I checked, which was a while ago). You have to disable WebRTC in the browser.

mahkoh 9y ago
>You have to disable WebRTC in the browser Incorrect. An easy and foolproof way of using VPNs is with network namespaces. You start the VPN in your init network namespace and then move the created device into a dedicated VPN namespace. OpenVPN has support for this because it allows you to execute a shell script after the VPN device has been created. Then you simply start your browser, torrent client, whatever in this namespace and you are completely safe: 1. If the VPN fails, then the only network device inside the network namespace disappears (modulo the lo device) and the programs in this namespace cannot use the internet. 2. Since the browser can only see the devices within the network namespace, the only IP it can see is the one assigned to you by your VPN provider (usually 10.x.y.z or similar.) DNS leaks can be prevented by using a generic DNS provider such as 8.8.8.8.
- fauigerzigerk 9y ago
  >DNS leaks can be prevented by using a generic DNS provider such as 8.8.8.8 You mean leaking to Google doesn't count as leaking? Your namespaces suggestion is interesting, but easy and foolproof?
  - the8472 9y ago
    You can run a DNS resolver in the network namespace that forwards¹ to google DNS through the VPN. ¹ Or run your own recursive resolver
    - fauigerzigerk 9y ago
      VPNs do exactly that when they are not broken. Ubuntu is broken and dangerously so.

lr4444lr 9y ago

I can appreciate the use of Tails in a VM, but doesn't the provider of the "separate host system" have your identity through your payment information?

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
roywiggins 9y ago
Running Tails in a VM is so your browser can't leak your real IP to the wider internet even if it wants to, because it doesn't know what it is. Your VM provider still knows your real IP address.
- dublinben 9y ago
  This is essentially the philosophy behind Whonix. https://www.whonix.org/ https://www.whonix.org/

mandelbulb 9y ago

>Clickbait? Partially. Obviously, self-marketing was the motivation for this test. However, it is still a helpful reference. If your provider doesn't even release a properly configured VPN client, you might want to reflect on whether to rely on the rest of their infrastructure. >Also if anonymity is of "real" concern You're digressing. Whatever a user wishes to anonymize their information for can be a valid concern but that does not necessarily require absolute anonymity.