Silk Road forums

Discussion => Security => Topic started by: zerobin on March 12, 2012, 08:59 am

Title: Is it safe to use my laptop w/ tor at a public hotspot?
Post by: zerobin on March 12, 2012, 08:59 am
I was thinking of using my laptop at an open wifi spot, ex. coffee house or fast food joint, and I was wondering if I had to take any extra percussion to be using tor there?  I saw in a thread that it slightly suggested it wasn't a good idea but I'd like more confirmation. 
Title: Re: Is it safe to use my laptop w/ tor at a public hotspot?
Post by: Diogenes on March 12, 2012, 11:25 am
If you want them not to see that you are indeed using tor, consider using this: https://www.torproject.org/projects/obfsproxy -- it uses bridges that use a new protocol that is, in theory, indiscernible, i.e. it doesn't stick out as tor traffic. This might be good practice for big-time vendors who suspect that someone might be closing in on their shipping location(s), and don't want to leak info about tor usage, because it would be possible to correlate tor access points and shipping locations. In any case, this is all assuming that the bridge in question is not compromised, and might be an overkill for a simple customer / browsing-person. :]

It is always a good idea to change your network card's MAC address when using your laptop at a public place (search for "mac address spoofing <your operating system>") - and change it again thereafter, i.e. when you finish using that public hotspot, so that no later association between your laptop and the public hotspot can be made.

But as long as you just use tor, it's probably alright in any case, or more precisely, it is alright insofar as tor is trusted in the first place.

Oh, you might want to avoid browsing the regular internet not via tor. Definitely avoid loading up your regular browser which probably has cookies / session keys stored. Theoretically, they could correlate timings and discern your identity via those cookies. This is "paranoid level" thinking maybe, but if you want to be sure, then yeah.
Title: Re: Is it safe to use my laptop w/ tor at a public hotspot?
Post by: zerobin on March 12, 2012, 09:08 pm
Thank you very much for the insight.  I'll do that. :)
Title: Re: Is it safe to use my laptop w/ tor at a public hotspot?
Post by: themessenger2 on March 13, 2012, 12:14 am
That's a +1 to Diogenes. That's the type of helpful posts we need around here. Thanks for the run down for everyone.