MAXIMUM OPSEC for Tor?

What can I do to get the MAXIMUM security and anonymity while using Tor? I know of tails and a VPN (do I use regular encryption or double encryption for vpn?) and know how to operate those. I've also heard of using bridges and Tor exit nodes, and configuring Tor in other ways? But i dont know what these entail.

If there is an article you can link me to, please do. I know 100% anonymity does not exist, but I want to get to 99.9999% if possible. Thank you.


Comments


[9 Points] throwahooawayyfoe:

Always make sure you turn out the lights in the room while you're surfing the darkwebz. It's the only way to stay 100% secure.


[2 Points] murderhomelesspeople:

Look into QubesOS and Whonix for more protection. Stop using a VPN


[2 Points] young_k:

I personally took some time and went through all of this thread on bitcoin talk and made a torrc file excluding node that were both reported as corrupt/questionable/compromised/etc - it too a good while and ended up with a 17KB torrc file with those excludes and other tweaks mentioned in that thread as well as the tor documentation....

I'd offer to share it, but it's generally not a great idea to just blindly run anyone else's configuration files without knowing exactly what every aspect of it does and means...

So do some research in that thread and verify what you find there if your anonymity from things like that Carnegie Mellon University+FBI operation that paid the uni 1 mill or w/e and is still reeking havoc for some is worth avoiding altogether.

Between January and July 2014, a large number of malicious nodes operated on the Tor network, with the purpose, according to the Tor Project, of deanonymising dark web sites and their users. The attack relied on a set of vulnerabilities in the Tor software—which have since been patched—and according to one source, the technique could unmask new hidden services within two weeks.

little bit further down in the article you find this....

The Tor network is secure and has only rarely been compromised. The Software Engineering Institute ("SEI") of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) compromised the network in early 2014 by operating relays and tampering with user traffic. That vulnerability, like all other vulnerabilities, was patched as soon as we learned about it. The Tor network remains the best way for users to protect their privacy and security when communicating online.

and then the peice de resistance

The record demonstrates that the defendant's IP address was identified by the Software Engineering Institute ("SEI") of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU") [sic] when SEI was conducting research on the Tor network which was funded by the Department of Defense ("DOD")," an order filed on Tuesday in the case of Brian Farrell reads. Farrell is charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine due to his alleged role as a staff member of the Silk Road 2.0 dark web marketplace.

"Farrell's IP address was observed when SEI was operating its computers on the Tor network. This information was obtained by law enforcement pursuant to a subpoena served on SEI-CMU," the filing continues.

Using this shit in court...and actually deanonymizing people on Tor who are using the markets....this is what our universities have been tasked with and what our tax dollars devoted to education ultimately fund now, all in the name of fighting terrorism, cuz isis and all those radicals in the middle east all use Tor to avoid censorship and chat with their cells around the world! If we don't let our government irradicate privacy altogether we will all surely parish in a horrible dirty bomb explosion!!!

Oh and as an added benefit the US Gov't also deanonymizes US citizens who just want to buy their drugs safely, and maybe sell a few kilos and make money while they're at it... /s

Seems like we've sort of got this catch-22 now, where something the Gov't (DARPA) created for anonymous communication and defeating censorship has ultimately fostered a community that takes their privacy for granted and assumes everything is safe that ends in .onion.

Ironically, it seems that despite being developed by DARPA in '97 and being released in '04 under a free license and beginning receive funding from the EFF Tor ended up taking a turn for the worse when it had changed it's funding from non-profits to the majority being the US government.

In July 2016 the complete board of the Tor Project resigned, and announced a new board, made up of Matt Blaze, Cindy Cohn, Gabriella Coleman, Linus Nordberg, Megan Price and Bruce Schneier.

Ultimate, after a series of what appears to be corruption inside Tor, the entire board resigned and new people were appointed...who knows if they are any better, only time will tell. The next big busts could be right around the corner and we would be none-the-wiser until it is too late. Campaigns like this seem like a good idea for those who don't break the law, but for users like us who are literally the majority of Tor traffic this could literally be the key to destroying our community.

Are we fucked already? Some of us surely are.

Worth checking out this article too, but I'm out of energy to spend on this shit and conspiracies and tinfoil make my head hurt

sources:

vice motherboard

wikipedia of course


[2 Points] j-mann25:

I personally just use a vpn with tor instead of tails and heres why. When the FBI did that big bust on Playpen they were able to see everyones real ip address when they logged on to playpen. Now if the FBI were to do what they did to lets say dream market or alphabay and you were using tails and tor you would be fucked but if you were using a vpn with tor you wouldnt because they wouldnt get your real ip address they would get the ip address to one of your VPN servers. Now there is a way to set up your VPN right into your router so that way you can still use a vpn with tails and tor but im having trouble figuring out how to do that so until im able to set it up that way I will continue to use a vpn with tor. Im sure a lot of people are going to say not tot listen to me that im stupid but until tails makes it to where you can use a vpn with it I do not think its safer to use tails with tor compared to a vpn with tor.


[1 Points] None:

I would say VPN is a risk because you never know if your VPN provider will snitch on your activity. OBFS4, using only HTTPS links while on Tor, and using Tails should have you quite tight. For an extra measure you can use the Meek bridges which make your Tor activity look like normal web activity (though encrypted in 3 layers, still making em look like queries to amazon / azure), achieving some security through obscurity.


[1 Points] ismokedyoblunt:

I would recommand tails as well. I just recently got it. Was using VPN at first decided to goto tails