[tor-talk] Am I successfully using Torsocks, SSH, and a VPS? Please advise, thanks!

[Ben Tasker]

If you're using Firefox, one thing you want to consider is DNS leakage.

If you go into about:config, see whether network.proxy.socks_remote_dns
exists. If not create it and set to True.

Without that, DNS won't use the tunnel. As you've got a VPN running it'll
likely egress from the VPN endpoint instead.

> VPN ---> Torsocks (on 127.0.0.1) ---> SSH (bound to port 33333) ---> VPS
---> Internet.

How do you pay for the VPS? If it's in your name (or can be linked to you)
then all you're doing is preventing your local ISP from seeing what you're
connecting to (which might, of course, be your aim). You do, in effect,
have a fixed exit point though, so it's worth bearing in mind that in some
ways it makes you more identifiable from the point of view of services
you're connecting to.





On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 11:55 AM, <blobby at openmailbox.org> wrote:

> I, like many other uses of Tor, have become increasingly frustrated with
> sites like Craigslist which discriminate against Tor. It makes these sites
> hard to use. I therefore decided to discover if it is possible to use Tor
> but end up with a non-Tor IP.
>
> I use Torsocks to login to a VPS server via SSH and bind SSH to a specific
> port with SSH’s -D option.
>
> My configuration is: torsocks ssh -D 33333 name at vps.com (33333 is just a
> random unused port).
>
> My normal Firefox browser (not the Tor Browser Bundle) has in Preferences
> / Advanced / Connection the SOCKS host set to 127.0.0.1, the port set to
> 33333, SOCKS v5 is ticked, and remote DNS is ticked. The “No proxy for” box
> is blank.
>
> I also use a VPN for added privacy to ensure that my ISP cannot tell that
> I am connecting to Tor. The result is (in my opinion):
>
> VPN ---> Torsocks (on 127.0.0.1) ---> SSH (bound to port 33333) ---> VPS
> ---> Internet.
>
> First, I connect to my VPN provider. Second, I connect to port 33333 on
> 127.0.0.1 where Tor (via Torsocks) and SSH is running. Third, I connect to
> a VPS (over SSH) and SSH is bound to port 33333. Torsocks transmits the
> HTTP(S) traffic through three Tor nodes. Finally, the Tor routing ends at
> the VPS and the traffic goes out onto the internet from the infrastructure
> of the VPS.
>
> In my browser, I checked https://www.whatismyip.com/ which shows the IP
> address of the VPS. When I SSH into the VPS, I see that the last IP that
> logged in is that of a Tor exit node. In Wireshark, I see that my VPN
> interface connects to the IP address of a Tor entry node.
>
> I have two questions. Does this setup appear sensible and secure? I am
> sure there are other ways to achieve the same goal but I would like to know
> my system is valid. I think my system is secure but I would appreciate
> opinions from more experienced users.
>
> The result of this model is that my IP is that of the VPS which is static.
> I did add a HTTP proxy to Preferences / Advanced / Connection in Firefox
> but the result was that the SOCKS proxy (and thus Torsocks and SSH) were
> ignored so the result was VPN –-> HTTP proxy –-> Internet (which bypasses
> Tor). Is it possible to use a HTTP(S) (or another type) of proxy to alter
> the IP. The ideal model would be: VPN –-> Torsocks (on 127.0.0.1) –-> SSH
> (bound to port 33333) –-> VPS –-> Proxy (e.g. HTTP(S)) –-> Internet.
>
> Thank you for your help. I appreciate any advice and suggestions.
> --
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>



-- 
Ben Tasker
https://www.bentasker.co.uk